Rubber Mask was meant to be investigated, with a curious reader jumping link-to-link to build their own conclusions from the Stan Cook case based on news feeds, journal entries, attempted pieces, and interviews.
That being said, sometimes the pathways of the links are unclear, and it may be difficult to establish the exact chronological order of the articles so that the story may be cohesively pieced together.
For those who want the clearest picture of the United States of 2143 and Stan's development as an artist, these indexes may help. Below are the articles of the piece in chronological order, and indexed by article's type.
2133 - Basil Montag, professor of Entertainment Matter, is interviewed by a reader of Underground Insider
2137 - Stan begins to explore the InfoNet, has his first dreams and begins to write a journal.
- Stan continues to dream, and begins to call his vague idea of lost art 'masks.'
2139 - Stan is by now courageous and literate enough to begin writing his own work. He reflects on this in his journal.
2141 - By now Stan is quite prolific. For fun, he decides to write the worst performance piece ever. He also meets two other artists, Menard and Borges, through his pen pal and mentor XyLORN.
2142 - XyLORN, an anonymous entity on the InfoNet, gets arrested for public performance, with what looks to be very harsh punishments in store for his future. Stan, in a hidden document, loses his patience and begins to plan for what he considers his ultimate masking.
2143 - Stan commits suicide, in a lavish and grotesque manner meant to criticize society's obsession with media and point attention to Basil Montag.
- This act is recorded in both the mainstream paper USA Tomorrow and Underground Insider.
- An Underground Insider reader interviews Stan's mother to investigate.
News Feeds
Underground Insider on Stan's Body
Underground Insider on XyLORN's Arrest
Journal Entries
Stan's first dreams and removal from MindFeed.
Stan continues to dream, "masks."
Stan writes about Pierre Menard.
Interview Transcripts
Basil Montag, on Entertainment Matter.
Stan's Pieces
Stan's first performance piece.
Underground Insider User Profiles
Portals to Stan's work