Do you have a personal experience that has influenced who you are, how you think, or how you live? Is there a certain story from your past that you tell every new friend? Write and submit your story to collective experience and connect your experience with others.

 

submit

a story about a personal experience (suggested length 700-1000 words).

digital images to accompany your story (optional).
 

Email your story, images, and any questions to [email protected]

 

What is collective experience?

collective experience is a network of personal stories whose first form will be a curated collection at this site.  By October this site will begin to take on its intended form, with an initial collection of indexed and hyperlinked stories.

collective experience is a not-for-profit, artist-run project based out of Chicago.  Its scope is international.

What information should I include?

Your personal information will be used to help index your essay on the website. Consider including the all or some of the following information with your essay:

  • Your name.
  • The year you were born.
  • Your age at the time of the experience.
  • Your gender.
  • Your occupation.
  • Where you live.

This information is requested, but not required. Please state in your submission if you'd like to remain anonymous. Your email address will be included with your essay so that readers can contact you. (If you don't want to use your regular email address, consider using an alternate anonymous address with a free email service such as hotmail.com, yahoo.com, or excite.com). Your email address will also be used to inform you of any collective experience news or events.

Thank you for participating!

Small print

All stories, once submitted, become property of collective experience. By submitting your story, you are agreeing to include it in future forms of this project (i.e. exhibition, magazine, or book).  Please change the names of anyone included in your story, unless you have permission to use their names. collective experience will always credit you for your story, unless you wish to remain anonymous.

Writing assistance is available upon request. Stories will be edited for grammatical and spelling errors. All other edits will be sent to the author for approval.

collective experience is designed and curated by Cindy Loehr, an artist living in Chicago.

All weeds on this site were drawn by Scott Wolniak for this project. They are occasionally cropped and colored with his permission.