Everything Is Perfect

• Authors: KUDLÍKOVÁ Martina
• Year of publication: 2014
• Description: If you walk the streets of Los Altos, you’re not guaranteed to run into anyone (except in the city center). No one walks there and on every other street you see a NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH sign, which means, loosely translated: if you see anything suspicious in the area, call the police. In my case, the suspicious activity was walking around. Every day I had to explain to the police that I couldn’t drive a car without a driver’s license and they told me that if there were no sidewalks, then no one wanted me to walk around there. Without hesitation, the way I’d describe Los Altos in Silicon Valley is “another world.” At first glance, everything is absolutely wonderful – every day it’s all clear skies, the richest people, gorgeous cars, big houses, the best schools, the most promising startups. But as a matter of fact, none of that surprised me. I knew the context and second glances always give you a different view. All you’d have to do was ask a local about a problem to unleash a complaint-filled monologue. But it turned out making any sort of contact with the locals was a problem in itself. At first, I had to use a “relay” method, which involved making contact a person based solely on recommendations; the person would then send me off somewhere else … or not. It was quite a laborious process, but was probably the only way under the circumstances. Questions about problems were usually met with an expression of surprise followed by deafening silence; then, after reflecting for a while, the answer would always be the same: “I don’t know, everything is great.” Two key things I found out during the interviews with the locals were that everything really was great in Los Altos and that success was a key measure there. The title “best” is usually earned there based on a shared model of education (the high school and university education there is reportedly among the best in the US), so naturally everyone is successful. The best education, the best houses, the best cars–a template-based success. Gradually, I realized that, ironically, the concentration of all those bests in one place made them rather run-of-the-mill in the end. That’s why I wondered how I might turn the principle around and showcase each person’s individuality by measuring normal things. I approached the place as most people perceive it – as a bubble, a closed-off world of all the best. Following the example of the Guinness World Records, I decided to create a Los Altos record book to showcase the uniqueness of each resident on the basis of ordinary things. I opened a LOS ALTOS WORLD RECORDS 2014 office in the city center and announced a contest encompassing the same fields as can be found in the Guinness World Records. In addition, I augmented my contest with a category of non-measurable records, which also became very popular. At first they didn’t understand my intention and thought I was just looking for real world record holders who live in Los Altos. That changed, however, when the mayor of Los Altos entered the contest in the YOUNGEST MAYOR OF LOS ALTOS category, which he won right away, logically enough. After that, people came up with dozens of different records, but they all had one thing in common – they were conceived so those who proposed them would win straight away. There was no competition in any category the whole time and the best would all be able to remain the best. I conceived the book of records along with graphic designer Adam Macháček as the smallest book in Los Altos and we supplied each copy with an original cover referring to a specific record. The award ceremony, attended by the record holders and the public at large, was held at the local museum and for many it was the first time they had ever met in person. (Kateřina Šedá, 2014)