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Pretty Inexhaustible |
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Here's an indication that the avant-garde, for want of a
more reliable term, can have a sense of humour as well as being exploratory
and innovative. Nathan Walker's new book is a splendid tome, 600 poems, a
poem per page, each centred in upper case type. Each poem has six lines and
the whole text is generated from a random JavaScript code that is featured on
Walker's website. I'm unsure of the programming details of such a project as
the results are often intriguing and hilarious, certainly stimulating, and
the idea that a computer-generated text can be re-formatted into book form -
this substantial looking block probably weighs two or three pounds! - has an
amusing ironical note as well as a serious aim. Here's an example of the
texts, a page opened at random, which seems quite appropriate: BAGS In an introductory text on the aims of if p then q projects, the editor points out that there are
three, possibly related, ways of approaching these texts: first, on an
immediate level - do you like the poem or not? - with no specialist knowledge
of poetry or art necessary; secondly, that the interested reader may then be
encouraged to 'dig deeper' and uncover the ideas behind the project but still
with no necessary specialist knowledge; thirdly, the approach of a reader who
does have a more sophisticated knowledge of art processes and context and
will better understand the content and form. This level also allows for the
possibility that the stimulated reader in the first two categories may be
inclined to research and understand the ideas behind the writing at a deeper
level. GLASS BELOW There's the potential here for a relation between text on
the page, text on the screen and text in performance, which feels wonderfully
active and stimulating, not something you could say about all 'avant-garde'
projects these days. |