31

Cody VanWinkle

Did you have previous associations with this number before making this work?

Well, there's 31 flavors. And when I was a kid, channel 31 was where Mtv was. That's about it.

What inspired you to make this piece?

It's the end! It's the end of the Adventure Calendar and the end of 2020. That's a big deal. You know, a lot of people blame the year for all the awful shit that's been going down. Everyone is shaking their fist in the air and saying, "2020 is the worst year!" And while I don't think salvation will come promptly at midnight on New Year's Eve, I am optimistic that things are not too far from getting better.

I'm no tarot expert. I'm barely even a tourist. But it's my understanding that that's what the death card is about. It's not just about "death" death, or even just about endings. Every ending prompts a new beginning. Death and rebirth. And that's how I see this situation we're in. We've endured unimaginable loss and cruelty and apathy and fear and stress, but this new year signifies the beginning of a new era. What we've lost will be replaced by... whatever it is we build now. This is our opportunity to create the world we'd rather live in: the new normal to replace the old normal, which was failing a whole lot of people.

This death card is meant to be a symbol of hope. It's the hope of much-needed change.

Aside from a response to this number, what does the work say to you now that you've made it?

It makes me feel energized. I'm excited to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

Actually, the whole Adventure Calendar, now that it's done, echoes that same concept. It shows me what a fascinating, moody, multi-tentacled, bizarre and beautiful creature we can create when we work together. Such deceptively simple prompts begat a myriad of emotions and attitudes, thoughts and ideas. And it only came into being because individual contributors replaced an ending with a beginning, working together as one wildly diverse community of creators.

This project was conceived when there was still snow on the ground last spring, before the madness of 2020 really took hold. Then Covid-19 controlled the planet, and businesses were closed and events were canceled. Somehow, amid all that chaos, this silly little calendar survived. Weddings, parties, holidays, and vacations were indefinitely postponed, yet the Bait/Switch Adventure Calendar still happened. And its importance was only punctuated by all these insane world events. The less safe and more desperate people feel, the more they need art in their lives, to escape, interpret, or reshape their world.

This is by far the most elaborate collaborative project I've ever been a part of and I'm super proud to have helped birth this huge, weird, screaming baby.