Recombinant Poetics and the Database Aesthetic, 2007
An embodied approach to computing acknowledges the importance of the physicality of experience as... more An embodied approach to computing acknowledges the importance of the physicality of experience as is falls within the continuum that bridges the physical with the digital. To illuminate the operative nature of database aesthetics, one needs to point at a number of human processes-memory, association, thought processes, cataloguing, categorizing, framing, contextualizing, grouping, the production of boundary objects i , grammars of information, grammars of attention, media constellations, principles of combinatorics ii , interface design-both physical and digital, as well as how these human processes become operative through the operative nature of a relevant robust coded environment.
Thesis (M.S.V.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1985.MICROFICHE ... more Thesis (M.S.V.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1985.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCHIncludes bibliographical references.It is my intention in this paper to examine the network of poetic relations which I explore in my art work. This document is divided into two main sections: part one deals with a number of art historical foci in regard to language, image, and sound relations. Part two focuses on selected video works of mine which synthesize aspects of this art historical data. In both sections a set of ideas intrinsic to the work will be defined. Language, image and sound elements in my work are not dealt with in a hierarchical manner. Since these elements appear simultaneously in the video work, the following writing will approach them in a way which examines how they function individually as well as in relation to each other. It is the artist's intention to create a resonant poetic network through the dynamic interaction of lan...
The 2021 Summit of the International Society for the Study of Information, Mar 29, 2022
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
RECOMBINANT POETICS Interaction with different forms of generative production enables one to dyna... more RECOMBINANT POETICS Interaction with different forms of generative production enables one to dynamically explore emergent meaning. New forms of computer-based art can make it possible for participants to actively become engaged in aspects of the production of the work. Each “user” of a specifically authored computer-mediated system may have a quite different experience emerging through interaction. Yet, emergent systems can also be analogue in nature. There is an interesting commonality to generative literary, artistic, and musical production that is relevant to the OULIPO, Recombinant Poetics [1], as well as techno-audio remix culture. In the following, I will compare and contrast approaches to combinatorics from the perspective of each of these fields of research. OULIPO (Ouvroir de litérature potentielle — The Workshop for Potential Literature) “does not want to be considered a literary school, or to overtly advance specific ideologies or theories, its goals portray an understand...
It is argued that at a sufficiently deep level the conventional quantitative approach to the stud... more It is argued that at a sufficiently deep level the conventional quantitative approach to the study of nature faces difficult problems, and that biological processes should be seen as more fundamental, in a way that can be elaborated on the basis of Peircean semiotics and Yardley's Circular Theory. In such a world-view, Wheeler's observer-participation and emergent law arise naturally, rather than having to be imposed artificially. This points the way to a deeper understanding of nature, where meaning has a fundamental role to play that is invisible to quantitative science.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Abstract: If we consider the creative processes artists go through in making a work of art, is th... more Abstract: If we consider the creative processes artists go through in making a work of art, is there a way to model these processes and "re-embody " them within computer mediated interactive environments? Computers present an artistic medium which heightens the potential for an intermingling of the knowledge of the viewer with the "re-embodied intelligence " of an author. Given that computers can house "recombinant"1 digital elements of image, sound, and text, how can the artist become an "author " of responsive, self regulating systems which enable "intelligent " emergent poetic responses to viewer interactivity via the application of models of poetic construction?
This paper compares and contrasts approaches to combinatorics in OULIPO and Recombinant Poetics. ... more This paper compares and contrasts approaches to combinatorics in OULIPO and Recombinant Poetics. OULIPO, also known as Ouvroir de Litérature Potentielle, is a literary and artistic association founded in the 1960s whose combinatoric methods and experimental concepts continue to be generative and relevant to this day. Recombinant Poetics is a term that I coined in 1995 in order to define a particular approach to emergent meaning through generative virtual environments and other computer-based combinatoric media forms. Combinatoric works enable the exploration of sets of media elements in different orders and combinations. The meaning of such work is derived through dynamic interaction. Another group exploring combinatorics uses digital audio techniques. The abbreviation "VS " ("versus") is often used in techno-audio remix culture to designate the remix of one group's music by another, often having only an oblique relation to the original. Combinatorics: From ...
I would say, first-order cybernetics is the cybernetics of observed systems, while second-order c... more I would say, first-order cybernetics is the cybernetics of observed systems, while second-order cybernetics is the cybernetics of observing systems. (…) When taking the latter position one develops notions like “closure”, “self-organization”, “self-reference”, “self”, “auto-poiesis”, “autonomy”, “responsibility”, etc., etc. (Heinz von Foerster, 2003, p. 303) Instead of presuming the “observer ” as given, we are (re)sensing the observer and are thereby offering an “Open Order Cybernetics ” (OOC). We are first of all concerned about our acquisition and use of language as the precondition for any meaningful statement. This self-reflexive point of departure distinguishes our project from philosophers who are presuming “something ” (“closure”, “self-organization”, “self”, “auto-poiesis”, “senses”, “objects”, “subjects”, “language”, “nervous-systems ” etc., etc.) in the first place without being aware of their presumptions i.e., that they are able to already talk meaningfully about “somet...
The Emergent Relationality System is a work in progress that enfolds multiple research agendas. T... more The Emergent Relationality System is a work in progress that enfolds multiple research agendas. The system seeks to define a new wholistic approach to CyberArcheology including new forms of multi-modal sensor hardware to work in conjunction with current sensor systems; a new software/search paradigm; and a novel generative virtual environment; to empower the user to bring media materials into “intelligent” proximity/juxtaposition. This system seeks to include the visualization of multiple kinds of sensor data relevant to CyberArcheology as it is brought into dynamic relation with media elements that might not normally exist in the same associational virtual space. Here polysensing systems (parallel multimodal sensing over time) enable the creation of a form of media object that can be given additional meta-data, and can be explored via state of the art search algorithms, new meta mark-up methodologies, and virtual visualization. The system is modular and non-hierarchical and hence a...
Recombinant Poetics and the Database Aesthetic, 2007
An embodied approach to computing acknowledges the importance of the physicality of experience as... more An embodied approach to computing acknowledges the importance of the physicality of experience as is falls within the continuum that bridges the physical with the digital. To illuminate the operative nature of database aesthetics, one needs to point at a number of human processes-memory, association, thought processes, cataloguing, categorizing, framing, contextualizing, grouping, the production of boundary objects i , grammars of information, grammars of attention, media constellations, principles of combinatorics ii , interface design-both physical and digital, as well as how these human processes become operative through the operative nature of a relevant robust coded environment.
Thesis (M.S.V.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1985.MICROFICHE ... more Thesis (M.S.V.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1985.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCHIncludes bibliographical references.It is my intention in this paper to examine the network of poetic relations which I explore in my art work. This document is divided into two main sections: part one deals with a number of art historical foci in regard to language, image, and sound relations. Part two focuses on selected video works of mine which synthesize aspects of this art historical data. In both sections a set of ideas intrinsic to the work will be defined. Language, image and sound elements in my work are not dealt with in a hierarchical manner. Since these elements appear simultaneously in the video work, the following writing will approach them in a way which examines how they function individually as well as in relation to each other. It is the artist's intention to create a resonant poetic network through the dynamic interaction of lan...
The 2021 Summit of the International Society for the Study of Information, Mar 29, 2022
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
RECOMBINANT POETICS Interaction with different forms of generative production enables one to dyna... more RECOMBINANT POETICS Interaction with different forms of generative production enables one to dynamically explore emergent meaning. New forms of computer-based art can make it possible for participants to actively become engaged in aspects of the production of the work. Each “user” of a specifically authored computer-mediated system may have a quite different experience emerging through interaction. Yet, emergent systems can also be analogue in nature. There is an interesting commonality to generative literary, artistic, and musical production that is relevant to the OULIPO, Recombinant Poetics [1], as well as techno-audio remix culture. In the following, I will compare and contrast approaches to combinatorics from the perspective of each of these fields of research. OULIPO (Ouvroir de litérature potentielle — The Workshop for Potential Literature) “does not want to be considered a literary school, or to overtly advance specific ideologies or theories, its goals portray an understand...
It is argued that at a sufficiently deep level the conventional quantitative approach to the stud... more It is argued that at a sufficiently deep level the conventional quantitative approach to the study of nature faces difficult problems, and that biological processes should be seen as more fundamental, in a way that can be elaborated on the basis of Peircean semiotics and Yardley's Circular Theory. In such a world-view, Wheeler's observer-participation and emergent law arise naturally, rather than having to be imposed artificially. This points the way to a deeper understanding of nature, where meaning has a fundamental role to play that is invisible to quantitative science.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Abstract: If we consider the creative processes artists go through in making a work of art, is th... more Abstract: If we consider the creative processes artists go through in making a work of art, is there a way to model these processes and "re-embody " them within computer mediated interactive environments? Computers present an artistic medium which heightens the potential for an intermingling of the knowledge of the viewer with the "re-embodied intelligence " of an author. Given that computers can house "recombinant"1 digital elements of image, sound, and text, how can the artist become an "author " of responsive, self regulating systems which enable "intelligent " emergent poetic responses to viewer interactivity via the application of models of poetic construction?
This paper compares and contrasts approaches to combinatorics in OULIPO and Recombinant Poetics. ... more This paper compares and contrasts approaches to combinatorics in OULIPO and Recombinant Poetics. OULIPO, also known as Ouvroir de Litérature Potentielle, is a literary and artistic association founded in the 1960s whose combinatoric methods and experimental concepts continue to be generative and relevant to this day. Recombinant Poetics is a term that I coined in 1995 in order to define a particular approach to emergent meaning through generative virtual environments and other computer-based combinatoric media forms. Combinatoric works enable the exploration of sets of media elements in different orders and combinations. The meaning of such work is derived through dynamic interaction. Another group exploring combinatorics uses digital audio techniques. The abbreviation "VS " ("versus") is often used in techno-audio remix culture to designate the remix of one group's music by another, often having only an oblique relation to the original. Combinatorics: From ...
I would say, first-order cybernetics is the cybernetics of observed systems, while second-order c... more I would say, first-order cybernetics is the cybernetics of observed systems, while second-order cybernetics is the cybernetics of observing systems. (…) When taking the latter position one develops notions like “closure”, “self-organization”, “self-reference”, “self”, “auto-poiesis”, “autonomy”, “responsibility”, etc., etc. (Heinz von Foerster, 2003, p. 303) Instead of presuming the “observer ” as given, we are (re)sensing the observer and are thereby offering an “Open Order Cybernetics ” (OOC). We are first of all concerned about our acquisition and use of language as the precondition for any meaningful statement. This self-reflexive point of departure distinguishes our project from philosophers who are presuming “something ” (“closure”, “self-organization”, “self”, “auto-poiesis”, “senses”, “objects”, “subjects”, “language”, “nervous-systems ” etc., etc.) in the first place without being aware of their presumptions i.e., that they are able to already talk meaningfully about “somet...
The Emergent Relationality System is a work in progress that enfolds multiple research agendas. T... more The Emergent Relationality System is a work in progress that enfolds multiple research agendas. The system seeks to define a new wholistic approach to CyberArcheology including new forms of multi-modal sensor hardware to work in conjunction with current sensor systems; a new software/search paradigm; and a novel generative virtual environment; to empower the user to bring media materials into “intelligent” proximity/juxtaposition. This system seeks to include the visualization of multiple kinds of sensor data relevant to CyberArcheology as it is brought into dynamic relation with media elements that might not normally exist in the same associational virtual space. Here polysensing systems (parallel multimodal sensing over time) enable the creation of a form of media object that can be given additional meta-data, and can be explored via state of the art search algorithms, new meta mark-up methodologies, and virtual visualization. The system is modular and non-hierarchical and hence a...
Uploads
Papers by William Seaman