FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What's our STORY?

The future is PERFECT and inevitable.

It is better than we can possibly imagine. It's so far in the future that we don't really use the "years" timescale anymore. But it is an unrecognizably different — an IDYLLIC — way of life.

So WE have travelled HERE to be TOURISTS in the exotic, almost pre-historic era of 2026 to witness a modern event which is legendary even in our time.

What's our SCHTICK?

You are here. To interfere.

With modern time travel, paradoxes are impossible. (— The future is PERFECT and inevitable.) But there is ONE sacrosanct directive of time travel to prevent spoiling this gorgeous natural habitat:

You may NEVER acknowledge the existence of time travel.

It is your sworn duty to lie, distract and misdirect. If anyone asks, we are all here for a "family reunion."

Thankfully, to maximize the entertainment value of the legendary historical event, we've placed our brains in "spoiler mode" so we can't access specific memories of the future. Your one true answer to every tough question is unvaryingly: "I wish I could remember."

However, there is one GIGANTIC complication:

Where we're from, folks are constitutionally unable to stop themselves from helping. It is your natural state of being to reflexively be making things better. You just can't help yourself. You are HERE. To INTERFERE.

— Just don't get caught.

What's the ART?

Pop-up participatory experiences for the public benefit. Street games and interactive activities where strangers interact with the world and each other. This could be almost anything that fits that description.

What's our whole DEAL?

Time Tourist is a container in which we use jokey creative play to prototype the ideas, values and behaviors of utopia.

When our art succeeds, we and our audiences will experience these outcomes…

  1. "Future Fun:" Creative problem-solving for pleasure, in the public service.
  2. Fresh eyes: Recognize the everyday as extraordinary, engage first-principles reasoning.
  3. Presence & Immediacy: Now is the important moment. Contemplate compounding efforts. Today's the day.
  4. Agency: Any improvement, especially small improvements, are our unique privilege to make.
  5. Calculated Optimism: Reject learned helplessness. Optimism is the only viable strategy.

What's considered PUBLIC BENEFIT?

Play and fun are in the public benefit. Also education, community-building and themed enrichment of many kinds including…

  • Health and Safety Improvements
  • Education and Skill Development
  • Environmental Protection and Conservation
  • Infrastructure and Connectivity
  • Research and Innovation
  • Cultural and Artistic Contributions
  • Social Stability and Safety
"In order to change an existing paradigm
you do not struggle to try to change the problematic model. Invent something new that makes the old one obsolete."

— Buckminster R. Fuller

What's NOT considered a benefit?

In this container, we agree to limit ourselves to polite and constructive action in the service of maximum appeal. Here's what we want to avoid…

  • The feeling of an inside joke where anyone's on the outside.
  • Scolding, judgement, condescending or holier-than-thou.
  • Needing permission, permits or authorization which can be withdrawn.
  • Hostile, confrontational or emotionally traumatizing.
  • Political speech. Think bigger.
  • Bawdy, profane or not suitable for all ages.
  • Hegemony normative, cis-normative, oppressive and non-inclusive.
  • Illegal, legally risky, dangerous or uncool.

And COSTUMES are mandatory?

Time Tourists (ticketed participants) are required to bring two outfits, left entirely to their creative discretion.

  1. Period clothing from any time period but this one. To Time Tourists, this whole epoch sort of blends together. Cave men, cowboys and club kids all hail from this general region of time and the details are fuzzy. Mashups, misunderstandings and exaggerations are also encouraged.
  2. "Future Formalwear" (Pajamas, but futuristic). The Time Zone — and we suspect MUCH of the future — is a maximum comfort environment where everything is absurdly optimized, yet chill.

What are we doing on Sunday, September 20th?

Why, that's the wrap party day, of course!

After we pack off the precious few of this year's ticketed participants who aren't also our creative collaborators — we'll spend a few hours of the morning breaking down and packing up, and spend the rest of the day swimming, laughing and chillaxing by the campfire.

Good folks, good food and the satisfaction of a job extraordinarily well-done.

Wait a minute — is this a LARP?

Even better (— if you can imagine!) This is "theme play" — our low-lift alternative to LARP.

Like LARP, it's a social, live action game. Unlike LARP, it doesn't require characters, backstory or improv. These beloved elements of LARP are still permissible, but optional, and entirely within player control. No advance preparation required. A theme is adopted and you learn the rules as you go along.

Just show up (in costume) and play along.