e.

motion, the kinematic construct of space :

" our ability to transfer cognitive artifacts into an experiential mode is a powerful tool for thought "
Paul Anders : Envisioning cyberspace page 23

Considering e.space perceived through the electronic eye of the camera on a flat screen conducts us
directly to the cinematic experiences of space through motion. Motion is the key parameter to produce the
feeling of 'insidness', as a relation between subjects and objects, in real, filmic or electronic space.
Indeed, the invention of cinema has lead to a large development of techniques setting the viewer into
motion, fusing modalities of perception, camera movements with sequential space, montage, techniques.
The sequential techniques of the cinema thus describe space as a segmented world in which each
fragment maintains its own independence. In this manner, each frame being placed in continuous
movement, inscribing motion through the rapid succession of frames switching between different camera
movements such as shots, travelling, pans, orbits … and different montage principles such as frame by
frame, overlays, fade-in/out … techniques.

This vocabulary has turned into the basis of kinematic narration, where dynamic motion is experienced
and perceived by the senses while categoric motion, moving abruptly from scene to scene, is cognitive
and imagined. Involving perception and cognition thus produces new space experiences further
introducing space as a disembodied, mental, construct reversing entirely the physical relation between
body and space.
In this manner the filmic techniques of continuous and discontinuous space-time have produced new
forms of expression, meanings, in the experience of space/narration. The electronic eye of the camera
has thus turned into our sensitive apparatus, a sense, affecting our perception and cognition establishing
through motion patterns specific space construct(ions) from physiological to psychic and emotional ones.
Film analogies are relevant to the discourse of 20th century architecture since the cinema was the first
media to introduce temporal and spatial discontinuity. For example the frame by frame montage inscribing
dynamics and tension through static or categoric motion has been the base of the constructivist
understanding of space describing the latter out of borrows and arrows as a balance of weight and
movement which even includes states of mind being translated into visual displays. Architects like
Bernhard Tschumi for example have transposed the filmic discontinuous space-time construct of montage
to the architecture of the 'parc de la villette' where the overlaying of different programmatic, geometric and
functional elements are used to generate a system of inter-connected elements, thus building up a
complexity of meaning. In his writings and works about de-construction Bernard Tschumi often refers to
Sergei Eisenstein's technique of 'dialectic montage' in the construct of e-motional space as a subjective
cutting of multiple 'narrative' elements interconnecting and representing different layers of stories, all
parallel in time and space. This post-structural linguistic analysis of Sergei Eisenstein's montage
technique overcomes the investigation of cinematic fiction to a general understanding of the
contemporary state of disembodied space experiences.
According to this conception of space, 'e.motional space' is a specific setting of meaning in mediated
space-times. Cinematic means of perception, of connecting space and time, of representing human
memory, thinking, and emotions has become the main vector of diffusing and representing cultural data.
windows of perception :
As computer culture is gradually spatializing all representations and experiences, they become subjected
to the camera's particular grammar of data access: we now use these operations to interact with data
spaces, models, objects and bodies. Cinema's aesthetic strategies have thus become basic
organizational principles of computer software. The window in a fictional world of a cinematic narrative
has become a window in a datascape. In short, what was cinema has become human-computer interface.
Lev Manovich, in ;' cinema the cultural interface'
The involvement of filmic technologies in the constitution of e.motional space according to patterns of
perception and cognition, thus allows to ponder on the potential of visual and spatial transcription of
information processes, computation and communication, in the form of electronic space. Similarly to the
cinematic 'realm' where specific techniques have turned into the narrative structures of a media, the
transcription of information processes now becomes the basis of e.space constructions. The comparison
of filmic space to electronic one should not be seen as a metaphoric transcription but as a general
reflexion on how movement and camera settings produce e.motions in discontinuous space-time
constructs, fictional space. E.space, besides recent developments in video games, is not a narrative
disposal but a visualization of information processes in non-linear space-time, networks and computation,
a system depending on the direct implication of the user, interactivity, in its proper formalization.

"aesthetics begins as patterns of recognition."

Friedrich Kittler in Literature, media, information systems 1997 page 130
As information exchange is directly linked to human experiences, acting in cyberspace thus defines space
settings at the surface of the screen, perception and cognition, as a process mainly depending on the
users implication, differentiating the truly virtual from the simply simulated: immersion, navigation, and
interaction. The combination of these three criteria are the main elements throughout which e.space
constructs will emerge as a complex language linking new space-time parameters, communication and
computation to specific modalities of perception and cognition.
As previously mentioned, the experience of Cyberspace and the notion of 'being there', imply the setting
up of specific, yet variable parameters according to camera movements, physical behavior, as well as the
setting up of perceptive ones, electronic ears - listen, body-fragments - touch…The variable setting of
these elements allows not only to conceive new space constructs such as behavioral, generative and
zero gravity spaces but already constitutes a huge palette of elements throughout which e.motional space
can be produced out.
Yet, working on e.space and movement patterns, such as jump nodes (abrupt point to point navigation)
and switch nodes (abrupt file to file = space to space navigation ) also allows to produce discontinuous
space-time experiences close to the filmic technique of montage. The combination of these elements are
perceptive and cognitive disposals in correlation to space, directly influencing the action and reaction of
the user in a specific space-time constellation of psychic and emotional settings, and thus produces
immersion and interactivity. But in the same way different techniques have set up a various visual
languages in the cinematic culture, specific codes involving computation and communication processes
need to be established in order to build an understanding and production of complex space-time
constructs, e.space. And yet, as in the cinema, the quality also depends on the relation between the
techniques and the modalities of expression and narration which, in our case, is the correlation between
the form and the function.
In fact, the experience of space, 'insidness', is mediated by information formalization processes, invoking
perception, semantic inscription (cognition) and the mental representation. Communication and
computation technologies therefore project us into new electronic spaces where the construct of
'hyperspaces' determinates a new relation between information and the individual, by combining the
perceptual with the conceptual, the concrete with the abstract. By transforming modalities of perception
and augmenting our cognitive potential, technology thus becomes the direct extension of our sensitive
and mental systems affecting deeply these "senses", on the one hand because space-time structures and
their representations are being transformed (developing new "sense"-significance), and on the other hand
because immersion and interaction affect our "sense" of perception; it is a hybrid construct between
space and body, placing the human within information spaces through mental processes in e.motional
space.
www sites:

The Aspen Movie Map

http://www.triptyk.com/crisf/aspen.htm
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Andrew Lippmann and his MIT Architecture Machine group developed in 1978 what is probably the first
hypermedia system of non-linear access to photographic images in virtual space. The Aspen Movie Map
system was a surrogate travel application that allowed the user to enjoy the city of Aspen. The recording
of the city was done by means of four cameras which have taken every 3 meter pictures in 4 direction. In
this manner the specific camera shots and the indexing of image in time and space allowed a continuos
ride through the city in form of picture sequences and thus allows the user to navigate interactively the
electronic cityscape at different times of the day and different seasons of the year. The system has been
combined with a map navigator using each decision point ( street intersection ) to have a continuos
navigation or to use the switch nodes of the map to do a point to point jump in the city.
Eddie Elliot , The video streamer
http://ic.www.media.mit.edu - The interactive cinema web site of the MIT
http://ic.www.media.mit.edu/Publications/Thesis/sdallasMS/PDF/sdallasMS.pdf
Eddie Elliott developed the "Video Streamer" software back in 1994 in the Interactive Cinema section of
the MIT medialab. In order to give a visual representation of the time and motion elements of a video
stream, Elliott used the third dimension. Each frame would overlay the previous one with a slight offset
thus forming a block on which front side displays the "normal" view of a video, while the sides would
display the edges of the video. Cuts, movement, pans, zooms would become immediately apparent as
patterns on the side of the block. Such a development inspired several follow ups among them, one could
name ..... and the diva software.
ART+COM , the invisible shape of past things
http://www.artcom.de/projects/invisible_shape/welcome.en
The Berlin-based Art+Com bureau created in 'The Invisible Shape of Things Past' an innovative 3D
interface for accessing and visualizing data about Berlin through historic film sequence. The interface
renders the camera movements, perspectives and focal length by placing the records of cinematic vision
back into their historical and material context. The trajectory through time and space taken by a camera
thus becomes spatial objects so called "filmobjects", correspond to documentary footage recorded at the
corresponding points in the city. As the user navigates through the 3-D model of Berlin, they come across
elongated shapes lying on city and thus experiences the urban space through cinematic motion.
Extended to a 'on line ' interface users now can transform film sequence into electronic 3D shapes in
order to investigation space-time base information access through virtual space and navigation.
VRML, cosmoplayer needed
Lev Manovich ,
http://www.manovich.net
Lev Manovich is an artist and a theorist of new media with computer animation, digital cinema, digital
photography, and interactive multimedia since 1984. The web site of Lev Manovich give access to the
writings and projects about the key categories and forms of computer culture according to the cinematic
one, such as cultural interfaces, database narrative, spatial montage, meta-media, macrocinema.
The ambiant machine
http://www.ambientmachines.com/AmbientPlayer.html
The project of Marc Lafia, the ambient machine, explore the setting of visual language, on the surface of
the screen according to cinematic techniques. As a compositing, recording and playback device the user
get involved with the 'generative grammar' of cinematic gestures such as montage in order to experience
the computer screen as a multilayered two dimensional space.

Space, emotional space

http://www.lab-au.com/space
The new project, sPACE, of the belgium office LAB[au] is an online project investigating the impact of
NTCI and particularly, modeling languages and 3D Real Time renderings (such as VRML) on the notions
of space-time constructs. In order to this the website offers to get confronted to theoretical research,
writings, as to several electronic environments, e.space, and thus constitutes a space of reflection and
experimentation. In particular the 'emotinal space' files offers the user a specific experiment of
cyberspace by mixing music throughout space and navigation, by modifying in real time camera settings
and editing its movements the user produce a continuos travelling, an acoustic space architecture.
Working on/in electronic space - architecture - thus extend the experience and understanding of new
space-time conditions fusing body and mind as a hybrid interplay of architecture, music and cinema.
"blaxxun contact" vrml plugin downloadable at: http://www.blaxxun.com

< inapoi
La Bruyиre in ciberspatiu
Plimbind in lesa demonul virtualului
Monica GHET
Adrian N. MIHALACHE
Demonul diminetii. Exercitii la computer solo
Editura Vinea, Bucuresti,
2003, 368 p., f.p.
Personaj insolit, Adrian Mihalache face fata unui „nemilos taifas“ din propriu-i creier1, unde se
intrepatrund stiintele exacte, arta si cultura – al caror statut, in contemporaneitate, este atent cercetat in
vederea testarii fiabilitatii lor pe „autostrazile“ ciberspatiului si ciberculturii. Temele Demonului diminetii,
oricit de variate, datorita timpului si contextului publicarii textelor (in revistele Arc, Arhitext Design,
ArtHoc, Contemporanul – Ideea Europeana, Dilema, Lettre Internationale, Creanga de aur, Plural,
Secolul 20), au citeva idei recurente, dintre care se remarca obsesiv necesitatea schimbarii – atit a
noastra, cit si a referintelor valorice la care ne-am raportat de-a lungul veacurilor. Pe cenusa acestora,
Adrian Mihalache mediteaza, pe urmele unor ilustri inaintasi-vizionari (McLuhan, Toffler, Carl Sagan
etc.), asupra pluralitatilor virtuale, deja in actiune, independent de legislatia mult prea greoaie pentru a
tine pasul cu inventia tehnologica, cu fascinatia informaticii si cu iminenta ei aplicare in cotidian.
Tot ce este posibil este si real, ar fi axioma pe care autorul Demonului diminetii incearca sa ne-o
inculce. In plus, accesul la virtual ofera nesperate sanse „defavorizatilor“ soartei, marginalilor istoriei,
permitindu-le „sa se globalizeze“ alaturi de cei rasfatati in rafinamentul vechilor traditiior. Fiindca, ne
spune Adrian Mihalache, nici munca, bunurile ori profiturile ei, nici banul nu mai guverneaza dinamica
lumii contemporane – ea se alcatuieste azi pe calea inteligentei si fanteziei. Dar pretul acestor
facilitati/libertati este renuntarea la imaginea proprie, dobindita sau construita pina mai deunazi. Sa
urmarim, deci, modalitatea in care autorul structureaza noile prioritati pe tabelul valoric al ciberculturii.

Pe la jumatatea volumului in discutie, Adrian Mihalache introduce „coloana vertebrala“ a „exercitiilor“

sale analitice; este vorba despre capitolul Cibercultura si contracultura: ideologiile ciberspatiului, in care
explica transformarea calculatoarelor din „ancilla a business-ului“ in poarta spre lumea virtuala datorita
interconectarii acestor aparate. Spre deosebire de „valorile culturale conservatoare, care promovau
productivitatea in operare, focalizarea in abordare, respectul fata de reguli si supunerea fata de
obiectiv“ – stare proprie anilor saizeci –, in deceniul noua „situatia se schimba insa radical si neasteptat
o data cu interconectarea calculatoarelor“ (p. 134). In consecinta, noua tehnologie a format alte tipuri
de comunitati, comunitati alternative fata de cele cunoscute in spatiul real (ca natiunea, spre exemplu),
bazate pe reciprocitate si mai putin pe unitate (p. 135). Definitia ciberspatiului, dupa Adrian Mihalache,
suna astfel: „lumea virtuala a calculatoarelor interconectate, s…t un mediu in care asemenea
comunitati, formate din grupuri reflexive, auto-interesate, se dezvolta exprimindu-se“ (p. 135). Totodata,
aceste grupuri virtuale „functioneaza ca aliante de indivizi“, afirmindu-se „in termeni de simboluri si
constructe culturale“. Or, ele sint, cum bine se stie, plamada ideologiilor. Cibercultura este mediul in
care „s-au inchegat ideologii care uneori submineaza, alteori marginalizeaza sistemele de gindire din
lumea reala“, deoarece „discursurile ideologice se subsumeaza metaforelor dominante ale
ciberspatiului“ (p. 136).

Ce rezulta de aici? Rasturnarea „polilor terestri“ – spus mai in gluma, mai in serios. Intre elementele
perturbator-novatoare identificam economia de „dincolo de capitalism“, cea care-i stirneste pe toti
protestatarii anti-globalizarii, anume economia electronica iesita din titini, care nu poate fi controlata din
cauza reactiilor negative specifice erei industriale. Astfel, capitalul e virtual, investitiile asijderea,
echilibrul – imposibil de stabilit, asa cum arata Peter Drucker, citat de autor, caci relatiile de productie
ale economiei de piata devin vetuste cind „motivatia materiala nu poate tine la infinit sub control dorinta
de afirmare a unei noi clase muncitoare, inalt instruite si super-calificate“ (p. 140). Dar se desfasoara, si
in acest domeniu, polemici; Drucker e contrazis de Alain Touraine, care sustine ca echilibrul e posibil
prin intermedierea vointei politice a „informaticienilor avizati“ ce pot actiona mai eficient in ciberspatiu
etc.

Pe plan cultural, insa, apare acum ciber-romantismul, acea „atitudine romantica de refuz al realitatii“
asemanatoare contraculturii anilor saizeci, in masura in care telul urmarit era si este „implinirea
individuala“. Iar, cum lumea data e greu de urnit din inertiile generatiilor anterioare, ea trebuie re-
inventata incepind tocmai cu evadarea din mrejele realului. Nu prin imobilismul exasperarii/dezamagirii,
ci – conform observatiilor lui Carl Schmitt, „in mod ironic si in spirit intrigant“. Iata ce scrie in acest sens
Adrian Mihalache, interventie care ridica, totusi, citeva semne de intrebare asupra coordonarii unor
astfel de consideratii cu alte analize prezente in carte: „Jocul dintre realitatea virtuala si cea reala si
autoritara are drept scop paralizarea ultimei. Ironia romantica isi ia realitatea drept tinta, o ia jucaus in
raspar, transformind-o intr-un pretext, un material de constructie al noii lumi. Activistii politici ai anilor
saizeci erau exhibitionisti romantici care, dintr-un deficit de ironie, au luat prea in serios lumea reala si,
in consecinta, au incercat sa o schimbe, in loc sa o marginalizeze pur si simplu. Transformarea realitatii
in conformitate cu o idee utopica tine de modernism, nu de romantism. s…t Intre timp, postmodernismul
s-a interpus, diminuind atractia exercitata de proiectele globale de transformare sociala. Ca urmare,
romanticii de astazi, actionind ca ciber-parinti-fondatori, au luat realitatea doar ca pe un depozit de
materiale semnificante din care sa construiasca, in ciberspatiu, o lume alternativa, o «mindra lume
noua»“. In aceste conditii, trezirea la realitate e aminata perpetuu, daca nu chiar anulata: ciber-
romanticul se mentine in „plasa“ imaginatiei – acorporale, pluriidentitare, ironice si fantaste, astfel incit
„Realitatea ramine zona marginala, defavorizata, saraca, importanta doar pentru ca, istoric, a fost locul
de nastere al discursului virtual“ (p. 142-143).

Prima intrebare, extrasa din arsenalul moralei traditionale, ar fi: e bine sa lunecam in tunelul fara de
sfirsit al virtualului, un fel de re-activata „tara a minunilor“ inchipuita de Lewis Carroll? Raspunsul, tinind
seama de realitatea fenomenului, ne arata ca e prea tirziu, deci inutil sa intervenim. In plus, notiunile de
„bine“ si „rau“ se cer reconsiderate in actualul ciberspatiu neonietzschean de „dincolo de bine si de
rau“. A te opune evidentelor inseamna a cadea in ridicolul propriu omului revoltat de uzurparea
patriarhalei linisti de catre aportul tehnologiei (de la hainele pe care le poarta la ceasul de mina sau la
facilitatile tehnicii din interiorul casei: gaze, apa curenta, electricitate etc.), incapabil sa faca fata
argumentelor irefutabile ale realului. Din acest „nod gordian“ al interconectarii „tuturor posibilitatilor“ nu
se poate iesi, poate, decit prin solutia radicala a lui Alexandru Machedon, la care pare sa adere Adrian
Mihalache. Adica se anuleaza „problema“ sau „dilema“, sporindu-i detaliile – ce de la Diavol purced,
cred unii.

Inainte de a privi „din zbor“ caracterele, tipologiile livresti, academice, artistice, senzuale, poetice sau tip
„retro“, contemplate si desfoliate in maniera labruyйriana de catre autor, vom mentiona doar impasurile
ce dispar o data cu despicarea „nodului gordian“. O perspectiva incitanta, brazdata de crevase-capcana
ar fi delimitarea/imbinarea globalismului de/cu democratia. Mai exact: poti globaliza un standard de
viata, o piata a produselor si a necesitatilor planetare in lipsa democratiei ca sistem politic – neglijind
intentionat liberul arbitru specific fiecarei civilizatii si ritmului ei de asimilare a apetitutului pentru
consumul generalizat, inclusiv al virtualului? Fara a se preocupa explicit de acest aspect, Adrian
Mihalache crede ca virtualul rezolva aceste mici inadecvari prin... evaziune. Cea din real… Alta
„dilema“: este sporul de cunoastere si de practicare a cailor virtualului un factor mutant pentru
identitatea „initiala“, ori nu atinge decit granitele „stiintei“, fara sa actioneze asupra constiintei – mai
exact spus: in ce masura salveaza, modeleaza ori „mutileaza“ imaginatia virtuala imaginea de sine? S-
ar putea spune ca e o nerozie sa nu asociezi cunoasterea cu transgresarea sinelui. Dar exemplele
realului ne obliga la precautie.

Existentele „suspendate“ carceral (in regimurile totalitare) stau drept marturie a importantei
personalitatii – marca a individualitatii, si nu a identitatii – marca a adeziunii la credinte
colective/colectiviste/de grup. Or, daca-mi amintesc bine, Carl Sagan se referea, in Creierul lui Brocca,
la „orizontala spatiala“ a cunoasterii, cea de „sine-spatial“, la ani buni dupa primii pasi pe Luna, ignorind
(pentru ca a murit in vremea inceputurilor aventurii dialogului intre calculatoare) avantajele transgresarii
identitatii datorate acestor retele ale tuturor permisivitatilor.
Despre numeroasele avantaje ale identitatilor realizate trans-spatial, dar si trans-temporal ne vorbeste
autorul Demonului diminetii, folosindu-se de toate argumentele imaginabile in favoarea teoriei
schimbarii, incepind cu misterioasa carte a stravechilor divinatii Yi Ching la „voiajul lui Ulise in cautarea
informatiei relevante, pretioase, ascunse prin bazele de date ale lumii“ (p. 130) si aceasta fiindca
„Realitatea nu poate fi suportata decit daca e considerata eterna“. Ceea ce spunea si Paul Ricoeur intr-
una dintre interventiile sale memorabile, in Romania (2001).

Numeroasele materiale alcatuind corpul volumului Demonul diminetii reusesc sa gaseasca numitorul
comun in „magia virtualului drept formula de transgresare a sinelui“ pe orice coordonata fizico-psihica.
Fascinanta se dovedeste aici capacitatea lui Adrian Mihalache de a „regiza“ diversele tipologii culturale
sub forma de „caractere“ pe scena virtualului – creind, astfel, arhitectura unui nou „teatru al lumilor“.
Fara pedanterie profesorala, desi functioneaza in sistem academic, Adrian Mihalache seduce lectorul
prin gratia stilistica si prin uriasa paleta a cunostintelor, perfect stapinite, ce-i permit alcatuirea unor
 surprinzatoare asocieri, oferind mereu alte perspective asupra adevarului, pina mai ieri considerat
imuabil. Iar daca e sa cautam un sens al acestor „umbre“ ale ideilor-caractere (circulind prin neo-
platonica pestera a monitorului de computer), el (sensul) se contureaza in originalitatea si in forta
intrebarilor formulate.

__________

1. Autorul insusi face referire la Bacovia, citindu-l in note: „In creierul meu plinge un nemilos taifas“
(Dormitind).
< inapoi

Mai jos e o idée f interesanta \/

www.dichtung-digital.org/2003/1-strehovec.htm

Writing Electronic Poetry

Loss Pequeño Glazier's "Digital Poetics. The Making of E-Poetries"
by Janez Strehovec
(Download für PDA - 11KB)

"The stagnation and repetition of already past contents and forms within contemporary poetry accompanies
the absence of inventive literary criticism and theory, which in encountering contemporary poetry does not
seem to know how to develop new concepts and paradigms." Glazier - scholar and poet - seems to be an
exception. In his book Digital Poetics he discusses hypertext, visual/kinetic text, and e-poetry pieces in
programmable media - useful not only for poets of the e-medium, but for all poets today.

1.
Writing poetry-as-we-know-it, which is meant for being published in the printed media and is, above all, thematically
directed towards forming lyric atmospheres, is by no account self-evident at the beginning of the 21st century. Poetry
remains a problem and a challenge for today's poets and readers. It appears that numerous poets of today (perhaps
there are already more poets than truly competent readers well versed in contemporary poetry) are less inventive
than contemporary artists working in the field of the new media and the visual and performing arts. Within the visual
arts, painting is perhaps represented only by ten per cent at large trend-setting exhibitions (e.g. Documenta 11,
Kassel 2002), meanwhile poets to a large extent, cling to poetic structures developed in the middle of the 19th century
and altogether push the advances of the literary avant-garde and neo-avant-garde to the edge.
The stagnation and repetition of already past contents and forms within contemporary poetry accompanies the
absence of inventive literary criticism and theory, which in encountering contemporary poetry does not seem to know
how to develop new concepts and paradigms. It is no coincidence that in comprehensive Readers & Guides within the
field of contemporary literary theory, there are hardly any contributions on the analysis of contemporary poetry. In the
middle of the last century, Martin Heidegger formed a whole set of basic paradigms for his philosophical thought
through his encounters with Hölderlin's and Rilke's poetry. Also, Walter Benjamin's most striking concepts in his
essays on Paris as the capital of the 19th century were developed by analysing Baudelaire's poetry and Baudelaire's
attitude to life in big cities. Can we at all imagine today's leading theoreticians in philosophy and cultural studies
finding any inspiration of worth for their theoretical work in the field of today's poetry? In a world of multiculturalism,
globalism, post-colonialism, dot.com society, new media, techno science and new language encouraged by on-line
communication, poets are not asking themselves about authentic forms of poetry-making today.
They do not pose fundamental questions on subjectivity within the expanded concept of textuality, creativity of
language in dialogue with the trendy netspeak and with the language of commercial messaging. They are not familiar
enough with the question: "Why have the lyric today and not only in trendy loops of self unwinding messages of music
videos?" Alternately, is today's poetry still at all concerned about forming lyrical atmospheres? Is it not perhaps, more
appropriate to look for the creative layers of language, with the help of different paradigms, let us say, in the form of
digital writing stimulated by the trendy "mix, cuts and scratches" culture? Lyrical, distinctly subtle atmospheres, today
undoubtedly still exist, however, we are perhaps looking for them in the wrong places, for it appears that the lyric is
being deteritorialised. This is why it seems that authentic poetry occurs only when the author places the institution of
poetry itself under question, writes even against its canons and creatively looks for answers also in the interactions of
poetic language with the new media. It is absolutely clear that such subtle creativity as poetry will probably always
remain, as far as readers are concerned, condemned to the "the happy few". All respect is also due to the very
esoteric nature of poetry, however, this does still not mean, that it needs to definitely lock itself away into an ivory
tower and leave out the experimentation and interaction of "unpoetic reality".
In his book on the language of new media, Lev Manovich finds that the tradition of the printed word is deteriorating in
the present, as the mainstream within modern society is directed towards presenting as much information as possible
in "the form of time-based audiovisual moving image sequences, rather than as text" (Manovich 2002:78). The
language of film, rather than that of the printed text, is becoming more popular to younger generations. Does the
author of this notion have a point? He does, if he is thinking exclusively about printed text, however, today e-textuality
also exists that takes into account time-based moving text sequences, which means that we are encountering film-
text that in its articulation often follows the paths and procedures of a film aesthetic and poetics. (For example,
suspense in Claire Dinsmore's kinetic poem, The Dazzle As Question, which works on the reader's uncertainty as to
where the new unit of kinetic text will appear on the screen, which means that the reception of this poem is not a "safe
ride".)
Besides poetry-as-we-know-it, by which we mean, metric textuality in printed verse (books, journals) and Concrete
and Visual Poetry, as well as other neo avant-garde forms of poetry-making tied to the printed medium, which take
into account also the spatial syntax and destabilise the traditional medium of the verse, e-poetry also co-exists today,
which is tied to the development of the new media and its advances, especially the computer.
This type of creativity (at the moment it has an altogether marginal status) is a big challenge for both poets-
programmers and theoreticians since, for e-poetry, a programmable nature of textuality is essential, as well as, text
displayed in the computer window (with its own specificity), digitalisation and also new forms of perception that are
based on "reading with the mouse" as an activity, which is far more complex than traditional reading, which in turn, is
based on following the noted syntax in a linear fashion and turning pages. In English and Spanish writing, poet and
scholar Loss Pequeño Glazier, otherwise also director of Electronic Poetry Center at SUNY in Buffalo, has accepted
the challenge of this emerging new field and has tried, in his Digital Poetics, to define the specificities of e-poetry from
the poet's, as well as scholar's viewpoint. In this book, Glazier discusses three principal forms of electronic textuality:
hypertext, visual/kinetic text, and e-poetry pieces in programmable media. He considers avant-garde poetics and its
relationship to the on-line age, the relationship between Web "pages" and book technology, and the way in which
certain kinds of Web constructions are in and of themselves a type of writing.
2.
The first question in e-poetry, which in its kinetic, animated and ergodic poetry, hyperpoetry, code poetry and poetry
generators variations, falls into the expanded concept of textuality and new media, is the question connected with the
nature of the medium itself, which is something that the author of this book (that was not actually written in one go but
predominantly links essays and papers which were previously published in various e-zines and journals) was aware
of himself. Certainly this is why already his opening definitions and illuminations dealing with the code of e-poetry and
its perception as well as with the spaces of e-writing in general, are of importance to this field. "Writing in electronic
media, whether simple Web pages, text generated by an algorithm, or pages that display kinetically, is writing that
exists within specific conditions of textuality. Such writing has different properties than the writing to which we are
accustomed" (2).Amongst these properties, it is important that the word does not take on the function of physical
object but rather is displayed and programmed. We meet with "smart" parts that function as writing about a subject
and at the same time also about a medium, with the help of which they become mediators, for we write with words but
at the same time we must also take into account grammar and the politics of code. Electronic poetry expands the
space of poetry and also that of its perception. It is here that the eye is clearly active for, in this type of reading-
looking-decoding, more effort and attention is required than in turning pages during the reading of a book or
magazine. An important quality of e-texts is also their malleability and this malleability's related characteristics, which
arise due to the flickering and fragile signifier. We are meeting a text that functions as a body, which can be
manipulated with a series of programme commands.
Glazier, who in the field of theory quotes a lot from McGann's text The Textual Condition, is certainly not only a
theoretician but also a practician in the field of writing and programming e-poetry, even one of the pioneers within
electronic kinetic poetry (in the book he often asks himself about the role of poet as programmer). This is why the
chapters in Digital Poetics devoted to the programming of e-poetry and e-textuality in general, are undoubtedly
important, for example, in chapter Hypertext/Hyperpoesis/Hyperpoetics in which he discusses also the alphabet of
coding and largely looks into applications in the HTML language in the field of e-poetry. In this, he is discovering the
richness of poetic language on the basis of including signs that do not have the characteristics of the alphabet but
function as visual tropes and also have rhythmical qualities. Here we should also mention a special chapter of this
book in which Grazier talks of the importance of the "grep" command in e-poetry; otherwise he has expressed his
affinity for meaningful code in writing poetry, by saying that also "writing a 'href' is writing "(3).
What kind of book is Digital Poetics? Is it merely a specialist book meant to raise questions about the pure theory of
e-poetry? Not at all. In terms of genres, this book is by no account united, including literary-theoretical writing and
approach influenced by theories on the new media intertwined with poetics as the poet's (self)reflection on poetry-
making under conditions of digital code. A noticeable part of this reader-friendly book (there are lots of examples and
illustrations) is also dedicated to the historical overview of e-poetry, followed by an overview of important international
studies in the field of e-poetry. At the same time the author also dedicates special attention to reflections on possible
perspectives of this type of creativity. One of the more important chapters in this book is therefore dedicated to the
historical overview and a genuine inventory of digital poetry between the years 1970 and 2001, in which the author
shows much attention to also considering digital poetry from outside the Anglo-American territory. Here he justifiably
draws our attention to the important contribution of French and Brazilian e-poetry.
Glazier's book opens up a series of questions on poetry-making and the conditions inside which e-poetry is
written/programmed and distributed, as well as, questions on its perception and institutionalisation. The author's
surveys and chronologies are exhausting, even though he leaves out certain authors and phenomena (for example,
text based electronic installations, web poetry objects and projects by Mez, Alain Sondheim and Simon Biggs) that
have an important place, especially in the field of introducing programming languages into e-poetry. Also, some of the
more prominent theoreticians within this field have been omitted (for example, the German authors Florian Cramer,
and Roberto Simanowski and Central and Eastern Europe scholars).
In the USA predominantly, hypertext was (especially in the genre of hyperfiction) for a long period accepted as a
basic model for writing in the electronic medium, even though the specificity of the new medium comes to the fore
more in other, more often, minimalist and within coded language intertwined forms. One of the most important things
in Glazier's book is, for exactly this reason, his critical "dialogue" with the hypertextual medium, in which he has, even
with regard to Mary-Laure Ryan's standpoint towards this problematic topic, written: "We need to ask ourselves what
is the actual advance of the new medium, in order to define writing that will put that medium to task. The basic
defining feature of hypertext, its ability to link, is operationally identical to the codex with its footnotes, index, table of
contents, see also's, lists of prior publications, parenthetical asides, and numerous other devices of multilinearity" (4).
The author of Digital Poetics is therefore closer to a textual experience that is "less about telling a story and more like
a plunge into pure textual possibility" (5).
Important is also his notion that poetry, not prose, is the arena for the e-medium to be explored and that poetry needs
to be active in inventing the future of the word. As examples of creative searching in this direction he mentions some
works of poetry by John Cayley, Jim Rosenberg, Eduard Kac and his own, leaving out many, let us say, pioneers in
the fields of poetry generators, text based electronic installations and code poetry.
Glazier also directs our attention towards the widest conditions of e-poetry for he is dealing with questions of
architecture of Web pages, with the specificity of the World Wide Web, and with questions on the nature of the
electronic medium itself, even though, we must emphasize, he does not go into any particular philosophical depth of
writing or writing stimulated by cultural studies of new technologies (also his possible dialog with striking notions and
devices from state-of-the-art literary theories, e.g. by Wolfgang Iser is lacking), but predominantly remains with the
medium of poetics, even with the history of e-poetry, which does actually constitute for an important contribution in
this book. E-poetry is a new field, similarly to its theory, which is only slowly placing itself into academic institutions.
(Between the Academy and a Hard Drive, is ironically named the Epilogue of Glazier's book.)
3.
Glazier's Digital Poetics, pioneering the striking and provoking field of e-poetry, would make useful reading not only
for poets of the e-medium, but for all poets today. The more demanding reader however, would find it difficult to find
any consistent and pure (literary) theory of e-poetry in this book. On the other hand, with this book, the genre of
poetics is excellently affirmed and justified, which is due to its close intertwining with contemporary art and theory a
very logical field, proper for the conceptualisation of contemporary poetry. How is poetry possible today? What is
poetry that is extended beyond the lyric? Why poetry and not a condensed, macdonaldised textuality of comics and
placed in clouds commentaries featured alongside music videos? How do the lyric and its subject function today?
These are questions that should be considered and used more often by poets especially in view of today's little
inventive situation in this field.
Is our note too critical toward contemporary print based poetry and does it try to sway towards preferring e-poetry,
which is more often generated by powerful visual special effects? Not at all. E-poetry is only among the genres of
poetry today that belong to the expanded concept of poetry. It is a practice which is undoubtedly only at the beginning
and is more often closer to new (above all visual) media than poetry-as-we-know-it. (Brian Kim Stefans finishes his
statement on his kinetic e-piece A dreamlife of letters with "Thanks for watching" and not "Thanks for reading".) A
series of theoretical devices for it yet need to be invented; let us just think of perception of e-poetry objects, which
includes, among others, "mouse reading", perception of the whole mosaic-like screen in one quick snapshot and
jumpy reading, full of forward glimpses and backward glances. With this note we have tried to draw attention to the
complex position of today's literary/poetry coded textuality, for which it can undoubtedly be said, as T.W. Adorno has
written on art: "It is self evident that nothing concerning art is self-evident anymore, not its inner life, not its relation to
the world, not even its right to exist". (6)
Poetry is also no longer a self-evident field but an area, which must constantly strive to rescue the word from the
mainstream of verbal triviality and banalness and creatively preserve its authority in the face of macdonalisations and
MTV-fication. This is the task for both, poets working in print-based poetry and poets-programmers of e-poetry.
Loss Pequeño Glazier: Digital Poetics. The Making of E-Poetries
Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press. 2002
ISBN 0-8173-1075-4
Notes:
(1) Lev Manovich , The Language of New Media, Cambridge, Mass.:The MIT Press, 2002, p.78
(2) Loss P.Glazier, Digital Poetics.The Making of E-Poetries, Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Albama Press, 2002, p.20
(3)ibid. 103
(4)ibid. 94
(5)ibid 21
(6)Theodor W.Adorno, Aesthetic Theory. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1997, p.1
posted: January, 24, 2003

dichtung-digital

Alte pagini si surse pt tema ta ar fi

http://www.aec.at/en/futurelab/projects_frameset_1.asp?nocache=423206
care e pagina web a arselectronica , plimba-te pe acolo ….linkul e de la un proiect al lor despre
spatiu si suprafete virtuale dar cred ca pe tine te intereseaza linkul in sine

pt asta sugerez sa te duci si la calin man (artist contemporan) la proiectul cu care s-a prezentat
anul trecut la bienala de la venetia de arta contemporana

sau dc vrei filozofie > poate un Adrian Mihalache, manovich (la care ti-am dat unele linkuri mai
sus.

Sper sa tea jute. Si succees