The CODE-X series catalogs a vast codex of source codes (aka “signs”) extracted from past audits.

The object of study in semiotics is not the signs but rather a general theory of signification; the goal of each “audit” is to build a model demonstrating how meaning is produced and received within a category or cultural territory. Signs on their own, therefore, only become truly revelatory and useful once we’ve sorted them into thematic complexes, and the complexes into codes, and the codes into a meaning map. We call this process “thick description”; the Code-X series is thin description.

“SET YOURSELF FREE” NORM: Escape from your restricted POV and way of life.

“SET YOURSELF FREE” FORMS: Sixties-ish​ imagery, Vegas-ish imagery.

From a 2023 study of the NO RULES territory (Stop making sense! Get as weird and out-of-control as you like) within the Cannabis category.