[-empyre-] meta view

["Melinda Rackham" <melinda@subtle.net>]

hi all
ive found it really interesting  that  so much of this discussion so far
about the emergence of a.life art has been about the rigours of definition:

defining metacreation..
defining a.life  (or is that a-life?)
defining authorship  (is a-life copyright or copyleft?)
defining self-modification  (which i seem to see as cute little fluffy
software entities  browsing the burgeoning self-help section of the
networked knowledge library)

when i think a-life,  I am more inclined to take it in a more fluid
philosophic vein  - an example mitchell previously gave of " the pursuit of
the emergent moment of
excess and surprise"
i personally would call something  a-life  if  meet the conditions of
alterity .. which opens up the doors..
is there separateness from ourselves  and   a sense of unpredictability?
is it resistant to, and independent of, our aspirations and wishes?
is it a non finite structure, could it exceed imposed borders, boundaries
and limitations?
does it  incite responses from others?

 but then again  sadly I am going for a concrete boundary around an elusive,
dynamic concept..

I am also very taken with the evolved circuit designs by Adrian Thompson of
the COGS lab at Sussex (http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/adrianth/ade.html).
amazing stuff. just had to put that url in again!!


Dr Melinda Rackham
artist | curator | producer