Re: [-empyre-] was TT.O/ja, now Simon Biggs, Mary Flanagan, Jason Lewis

[Simon Biggs <simon@littlepig.org.uk>]

On 05.05.03 21:18, "Jim Andrews" <jim@vispo.com> wrote:

> It's the work of Jason Lewis at http://www.thethoughtshop.com .
------
I was also unaware of this artist. Have checked out the site. It is good
work. Substantial, well developed and technically adept. Strong. I am
surprised he has not been given wider exposure or been involved in things
like the Poesis events and such. Or maybe I am just not up to speed...

> It reminded me of a piece by Mary Flanagan called 'search' at
> http://www.maryflanagan.com/search.htm . And, additionally, Mary's piece
> reminds me of Simon's
> piece: on the title page, Mary quotes Borges from 'The Library of Babel':
-----
In what respect Babel? Do you mean its ability to "search" the web? If so,
and if you are familiar with the work, you will know that Babel does not
search the web at all. In fact I spent some months personally searching the
web selecting websites that would map by subject to the Dewey Decimal
classification system and then setting this up as a database which Babel
then searches. Although this was a labour intensive and impure solution to
how to get Babel to work (in early versions I simply let it use Google in
the background, using text messaging, to find relevant websites) it suited
my agenda as I didn't want to make a web search machine but rather something
that would give a certain (perhaps dilettante'ish) view of the web. Steve
Dietz writes about this in the introduction and quotes Jon Ippolito on the
deconstructive re-purposing of technology.

Thus I would say that the relation between Babel and Lewis' work is not as
strong as it might otherwise be, as his piece does it for real (I think).

> Here we have an 'electronic poetry' of some intensity in its engagement with
> language and
> programming, Babel and Godel, identity and algorithmic art.
-----
There seems to be a number of artists now moving into this field.
Interesting. Perhaps there is something in the air?

best

Simon


Simon Biggs

simon@littlepig.org.uk
http://www.littlepig.org.uk/
http://www.greatwall.org.uk/
http://www.babel.uk.net/

Research Professor
Art and Design Research Centre
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
s.biggs@shu.ac.uk
http://www.shu.ac.uk/