RE: [-empyre-] hello to empyre

["Jim Andrews" <jim@vispo.com>]

> * the relationship of electronic poetry, visual art or sound to other
> experimental poetry movements. The majority of experimental work in poetry
> is still page-orientated, and some experimental poets are either
> indifferent or hostile to electronic work.  Why do you think this is the
> case, what do you think the consequences of it are, and how do you think it
> can be overcome? I believe that the situation may be less extreme in the
> sonic and visual arts.

hi hazel,

when we think of 'visual art', there's quite a broad range of things that come to mind. when we
think of 'poetry', the range tends to be narrower. words on a page. o yes there's sound poetry
and performance, 'spoken word', concrete, 'electronic poetry', holographic po, oulipo, and so
on, but words on a page takes up the 'p', the 'o', the 'e', the 't', and the 'r'. the rest is
crammed into the 'y', as it were, and is of relatively little account to most. why is this and
will it change?

the change won't have so much to do with the work itself as the predominance in society of the
technology associated with the art. we have seen the use of computers proliferate dramatically
over the last thirty years.

how do people come to be interested in digital art? or print poetry? they become involved first
in the medium, as part of themselves, toward various ends. people learn to read and write early
in their lives and what can be done and said in and with writing comes to be of great concern to
them, if they are thoughtful, over time. similarly, if they find themselves using computers, for
various ends, as deeply as reading and writing are part of their lives, then they come to be
interested in what can be 'said' via these new media. because they are constantly faced with
questions of how to express or do what they want to express or do. if they are not faced with
these questions themselves on a creative level, they probably won't have much interest in what
can be 'said' and done with computers. in other words, if they want or need to become literate
in these media, it's then that digital art becomes relevant to them.

so history will be the arbiter in this matter, largely, as the use of computers continues to
proliferate. of course print will not 'go away' for at least some time, if ever. i hope not,
anyway. i love great books and the forms therein. i do want room for something else, however.

ja
http://vispo.com/writings