Riverwest Currents | An Anonymous World

You are here: Home

An Anonymous World

Written by Tea Krulos
Sunday, 01 March 2009
The employees of a grocery store have a problem. Their everyday, a n o n y m o u s lives are being disturbed by a series of creepy, s o m e w h a t t h r e a t e n i n g letters that keep showing up, signed “Anon.” There are other problems, too. A customer has trouble telling the difference between “saltines” and “sardines.” After finding a dead body in an aisle, the employees are told to put on deli gloves and throw the body into the alley next to the store. And who is delivering the everincreasing letters? It may be a sinister red fox with seemingly supernatural powers. This is part of the world explored at wereanonym.us. The multimedia site hosts a series of videos titled “Letters from Anon,” which feature actors as grocery store employees, all wearing black pantyhose over their heads, disguising their identity. The short videos were all shot on location at Koppa’s Deli on Farewell. Even the credits are anonymous. Another feature is a series of illustrated slide shows titled “Who is the Red Fox?” which explore the search for the sabotaging animal at large. The slideshow features drawings by wereanonym.us creator and filmmaker Brian Perkins. A third feature is the “pop up fiction” story called “Hiding Places” which chronicles an encounter with an agent of the red fox. These elements come together as “three stories as one unit,” according to Perkins. The three formats create a “labyrinthine narrative that grows, expands, and multiplies like a Matryoshka (or Russian nested) doll,” Perkins states. An upcoming show will feature artwork by Brian Perkins from the website as well as screenings of the site’s videos. The show is titled “Lost in a Volcanic Maze,” which refers to a note left by “Anon” for the grocery store employees along with a bouquet of pink roses. The show will be at the Armoury gallery, 1718 N. 1st St. on Friday, March 6, 6-10 pm for one night only.