Operation Trample

Department: Communication, the Arts and Cultural Regulation

Operation Code: TRAMPLE
Report File Number: 39
Senior Director: Xinyu Hao                         Director: H.D. Fiorello
Head of Administration: Doctor Ibáñez      Head of Research: Doctor Kandweiss
Head of Development: Doctor Csanád

Operation TRAMPLE Goals:

1. Develop a long-term strategy to capitalize on untapped art markets.

Operation TRAMPLE Abstract:
(Dictation from the desk of Director Fiorello)
I was aware of Doctor Kandweiss from previous work for this Department in relation to Project SHOELACE. I believe that the Devices created for this Project could be retrofitted for our purposes. I have brought in Doctors Csanád and Ibáñez to assist with staff management and ensure that these ‘Devices’ shall remain always aligned with Project goals.

TRAMPLE Addendum: 1

Subsection: A

(Dictation from the desk of Director Fiorello)
Some staff operating the Devices have begun to name and personalize them. I have decided that these income and resources generators shall be named “PRODUCERs” until further notice. All Administrators and Supervisors must ensure staff always operate strictly within Departmental attitude and morale guidelines.
 

Device Codenamed ‘PRODUCER’ Specifications:
(Dictation from the desk of Doctor Kandweiss)
PRODUCERs consist of a metal cylinder measuring 30 cubic meters in size. At the base of the cylinder are two rows of thirty specialized, articulated limbs. At the top of the cylinder is a ‘chimney’ for correct ventilation of all fumes and waste produced during production. The cylinder is bottomless to allow for installation and usage of larger materials for production.

TRAMPLE Phase 1 Summary:

(Dictation from the desk of Doctor Ibañez)
Currently any PRODUCER can re-create any object considered a valuable piece of Art and/or Culture. Doctor Kandweiss has most recently added artificial environment and chemical manipulation technology to the PRODUCERs. This allows them to create and age conventional paints or materials to match region or time specific details. The limbs can mimic hand movements, unique flourishes and signatures without fault. Authenticity and quality are kept to a high standard through an extensive and constantly updated cultural archive to ensure all pieces are beyond reproach.

Below is a what one PRODUCER created in a standard day of operation:

• To-scale, exact replica of Sculpture Augustus of Prima Porta (1st Century AD)
• Steel Ethiopian Processional Cross with Gold Plating and Varnish (7th Century)
• 4-metre-long Flemish Tapestry depicting a hunt (14^th Century)
• French Flintlock Blunderbuss with silver-inlaid handle (17^th Century)
• An exact replica of Memory, the Heart by Frida Kahlo (1937)
• An exact replica of Study from the Human Body by Francis Bacon (1949)
• An exact replica of Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock (1952)
• An exact replica of Cadillac Moon by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1981)

All works have been verified by neutral experts as genuine. Auctions of products have already begun through Departmental Intermediaries and should expect to see profits in the Operational budget by end of this current financial year.

TRAMPLE Phase 2 Summary:

(Dictation from the desk of Doctor Csanád)

Doctor Kandweiss has been feverishly attempting to update the PRODUCERs without permission from the Director. The PRODUCERs can now create totally unique work. I have assigned staff to begin establishing cover identities for our new, contemporary ‘artists’ through which we hope to sell the produced material. This has placed strain on our budgets. However, current estimates suggest that if we create a generation of persecuted artists quietly sneaking their work out of ‘prisons’ to their buyers, we easily mark-up the producer material and see long-term profits increase by up to 47%. Doctor Kandweiss has been allowed to continue experiments on the PRODUCERs on the condition they do not impact the finances of the operation.

TRAMPLE Concluding Comments:
(Dictation from the desk of Doctor Csanád)

The PRODUCERs are already generating profit estimated to double by the next financial year. Currently, there are 25 PRODUCERs running at full capacity. On a personal note, I am concerned about Doctor Kandweiss’s attachment to what they describe as “our lovely infant masterminds”.

TRAMPLE Addendum: 1

Subsection: BZ

(Dictation from the Director Fiorello)
Department Agents tasked with selling our product have suggested the buyers and sellers have grown concerned about the amounts of Phase 1 ‘rediscovered’ art and artefacts currently on sale. The false identities of new Phase 2 products has also begun to face serious questions on the Art Markets. Analysts have suggested creating some kind of ‘archeological mania’ on social media to suggest where the Phase 1 ‘rediscovered’ art is emerging from. I reached out to Director Delvardus from the Department of Law, Justice and the Prevention of Crime. They have begun a wave of random persecution directed at artists and creatives among the civilian population. This should reinforce our Phase 2 identities of ‘victim-of-political-action creatives’ as well as foster a market for “original, reactive work”. All that aside, we cannot forget our priority is that we continue to generate profit for the Department.

TRAMPLE Addendum: 2
Subsection: A
(Dictation from the desk of Doctor Ibáñez)

Doctor Csanád and I are officially expressing concern about the developing status of the PRODUCERs and Dr Kandweiss. The desire to constantly improve and adapt the PRODUCERs is making them more complex for staff to manage and producing wildly varying results when programs are entered. 2 of the PRODUCERs now only make new work, some of which could be interpreted as being genuinely critical of the government.

TRAMPLE Addendum: 2
Subsection: CZA
(Dictation from the desk of Doctor Ibáñez)

All staff are being warned that the latest upgrades to the PRODUCERs has caused the fumes they expel to be toxic in high levels. Doctor Kandweiss assures me that once the filtration system has been upgraded as well this will no longer be an issue. In the meantime, staff operating the PRODUCERs will be required to work half-shifts and wear gas masks at all times.

TRAMPLE Addendum: 3
Subsection: BZ
(Dictation from the desk of Doctor Kandweiss)

The PRODUCERs are my creation. I created them to assist with this Department’s money-making schemes. I always believed that PRODUCERs could be used for things much grander and complex than filling wallets. I know I have the full support of Departmental leadership in my ambitions; the PRODUCERs will rejuvenate the culture of the nation and through Operation TRAMPLE we will see not only the government thrive but the population we are supposed to be helping.

TRAMPLE Addendum: 4

Subsection: <data redacted>
(Dictation from the Senior Director Xinyu Hao)

This Department is deeply disappointed in the words and actions of Doctor Kandweiss. I have formally censured Doctor Kandweiss for wasteful actions in continuing to modify the PRODUCERs. We do not need ‘new’ work that could challenge the validity of this government. These PRODUCERs function only to generate income for this Department. I have ordered Doctor Csanád to fix the PRODUCERs by any means.

TRAMPLE Addendum: 5

Subsection: G
(Dictation from the Doctor Csanád)

As per Senior Director’s wishes, I have been re-engineering the PRODUCERs so that they are no longer so inconsistently responding to staff controls. However, two-thirds of the existing PRODUCERs have their ability to create new work disabled permanently. The Senior Director has assured me this is acceptable. The PRODUCERs now work much slower, malfunction frequently and required a huge amount of fuel to operate but they obey staff directions absolutely and to the letter.

TRAMPLE Addendum: 3

Subsection: B

(Dictation from the desk of Director Fiorello)

Previous concerns (see Addendum 2 Subsection AA) about the PRODUCERs’ complexity are no longer an issue. Instead, the PRODUCERs are producing so much material we outnumbers all other products in the art markets by 30%. Director Delvardus informs me that the wave of persecution is being cycled down and we should compensate accordingly. Our Analysts have seen an increase in cultural enjoyment in our people. Dissatisfaction with government authority is at record lows. Operation TRAMPLE has succeeded well above expectations. We have fostered a love of culture and the arts in our civilian population purely for its own sake. They seek distraction, beauty and entertainment rather than any kind of social commentary. As a result, we are shutting down our Phase 2 PRODUCERs. Our stock of ‘new’ work should suffice into the future. As Director of this Operation, I am proud to announce here that this Department has effectively regulated Culture in the nation. We have also done so while maintaining profitability for the Department. I want to personally thank Doctor Eliza Ibáñez and Doctor Hugo Csanád for their tireless work and excellent management of Department staff. I highly recommend Doctor Kandweiss be kept off sensitive projects in the future, or at least kept under vigilant supervision, to prevent further breaches of departmental standards. Despite his obvious excellence in certain fields of innovation and engineering, Doctor Kandweiss’s freedom of though and action poses too much of a risk to departmental cohesion to be allowed to fester any further.