There are more decapitated animal parts in NYC than there are most species of live, intact animals. It is almost certain that there are more goat heads in Prospect Park alone than there are Tamarin monkeys in all five boroughs combined. The Parks Department has record of each call it gets regarding an animal part displaced from the rest of its body.What will you do with this information?
Useless Press, described as "a publishing collective that creates eclectic Internet things," has at its disposal a dataset spanning ten years of reports about decapitated animals around NYC, collected for a New York Magazine story by Adrian Chen, one of the site's co-founders.
While interesting, the information didn't do much to advance the story, but it certainly seems wasteful to let 66-pages of animal part data just sit there. So Useless Press has announced an open call for projects "that make use of this data in an innovative manner." Submissions can be:
- maps
- collections of charts or graphs
- interactive features
- works of fine art
- physical installations
- apps
- sound or music
- etc.
Your options are limited only by your own dumb imagination. Create an app that alerts you when you are within 50 feet of a Goat Head Site. Choreograph a tap dance that sounds like a goat inhaling its final breath. These are horrible suggestions! You can do better.
The winners will be featured on the Useless Press website, and the winner will be given $50. Head* to the Useless Press website for more information.
*Intentional.
