Investigating Imaginary Evidence is an exploration of the (nearly ten-year) development process of Forced Entertainment’s recent CD-ROM work, Imaginary Evidence produced by the digital author of that work. During the evolution of the CD, the primary question, “what exactly is evidence of ten or even twenty years’ creative work?” surfaced and resurfaced. In addressing the question, creative explorations of evidence, interactivity, narrative construction and history were explored. In the end, a structure was devised that relied upon simplicity and volume (of information) to allow users to construct their own narratives utilizing annotations, stories and contradictions.

What is left out of the final media artefact that is Imaginary Evidence is those years of questions, investigations and experiments exploring the nature of evidence (of performance, of creation) and its manifestation in a digital medium. Investigating Imaginary Evidence provides elements from that development process along with reflective texts to help illuminate that process for you, the critical user and it attempts to reveal some of those key questions and investigations so that you may further explore the way that technology and human interaction shaped the piece.