TwinGeekz is a loose affiliation of loose affiliates in New Hampshire who began the TwinGeekz Artz Project challenge in May of 2005; the task was for each of the original seven participants to produce and submit a piece of art every week for one year.  Every artist succeeded in completing their 52 pieces of art, and thus the TGAP theory was proven: "All creativity needs is a deadline". 

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The original idea came out of a trip by the original TwinGeek, Michael Piper, to the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.  While viewing some of Dali's master works Piper thought, "I should create a master work." 

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Upon returning home, he shared his idea with his longtime friend and fellow geek,  Jim Tyrrell,  who modified the concept when he suggested, "rather than one large piece of art that takes a year to create, why not create a piece of art a week for a whole year?"  Tyrrell agreed to do the same in his own medium (music), a website was created, more Geekz were enlisted, and the rest is history.  OK, well, maybe not a history about which you've heard yet, but history nonetheless. 

  

A second TGAP (pronounced "tea-gap") followed in 2006 and featured even more artistz; while not everyone completed the project-- in fact only one succeeded-- it still upheld the theory, because it was only when the site updates got a little behind that almost everyone slacked... and apparently lost all motivation.  (In our illustrious Geekmaster's defense, he had just welcomed a third son into the world; things were slightly hectic!)  Some might say that our inability to finish all 52 weeks made the project a failure; we say that as long as the theory was upheld, it can still be considered a success.

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In 2011 we decided to embark upon a TGAP 3, so we created a workable format whereby all participants could upload their own Workz, rather than putting all the pressure to update the site on one person.  The present Geekmaster took over at the beginning of TGAP 3 and is one of the original geekz-- as was our first Geekmaster-- and she readily admits that she was only able to fufill her geekmasterly duties with a "self-upload" system in place.  TGAPs 1 and 2 were uploaded single-handedly by original Geekmaster Jim Tyrrell, and we are eternally grateful for his effort and patience... and above all his tendency toward workaholism!  Remember, not only was he our Geekmaster, he was also a participant.  That's right folks: every week for an entire year he wrote, recorded, and uploaded a song; and still he found time to upload everyone else's Workz, too.  The first two projects would never have existed if not for him.

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The preparation for TGAP 4 found current Geekmaster Robyn Piper porting everything over to a new, (hopefully) improved "self-upload" format that behaves more like a blogging community, allowing each participant to log in to post their weekly Workz as blog entries.  Finally, TGAP 4 launched as of January 22, 2025-- Inauguration Day-- as a continuation of our experimentation with creativity and deadlines, but this time with an added intention: to support each other through art and collaborative intention over the next four years.  The previous TGAP iterations weren't exactly sprints, but we realize that this one will be an even longer marathon, so we are also trying to be a little kinder and gentler about posting every week, but without compromising the imposed deadline concept that we believe sparks our creativity and keeps us going.  We all have enough stress in our lives already, so we're hoping to strike some sort of balance that provides motivation without a sense of crushing obligation.

 

It will be a delicate balance, but with TGAP 4 we will endeavor to prove once again the age-old saying (OK, well, decades-old, if we're being precise), "All creativity needs is a deadline"... without adding undue anxiety to our existing existential dread.  Hopefully, in the process we will also succeed in illustrating how vital creativity and art are to our well-being as a community, as a nation, and as a species. 

 

How hard can that be, right?