Death of the Author 2.0

You thought Roland Barthes' Death of the Author was just crusty, dusty theory, but the debate still lives on the Nettime mailing list.

http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0709/msg00043.html
http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0709/msg00050.html
http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0709/msg00053.html
http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0709/msg00055.html

Thanks Angela for pointing this out.

Michael Haneke, Minister of Fear (NYT Magazine)

There is a pretty informative article on Michael Haneke in today's NYT Magazine written on the occasion of an American, Hollywood remake of Haneke's Funny Games (remade by Haneke himself, with Naomi Watts):

read it!

Some things I found interesting about Haneke as described in this article are 1) his awareness of, and implication of the audience (by not always comfortable methods) and 2) his films' philosophical/political critique of both fascism (including Hollywood's unexamined ideological storytelling) and the comfortable, bourgeois/left, Western citizen (circle back to point #1 here).

In terms of nonlinear storytelling, I found his film Code Unknown (Code Inconnu) to be an engaging example.

Kyle Schlesinger follow-up

http://www.kyleschlesinger.com/

Here are some links and leads Kyle Schlesinger is sharing with us as a follow-up to his visit (I also suggest UBU Web—an incredible online archive of experimental works). I guess the "Google Poetry" I mentioned in class is officially known as "Flarf." See below.

==

UBU Web. Rare films, tons of audio files, documents, etc. Kenny G is the editor. I strongly suggest Craig's Conceptual Writing anthology as a compendium for Oulipo: http://www.ubu.com/

There's also Craig's Eclipse, an archive of inspired writing: http://english.utah.edu/eclipse/
and Kenny is also a senior editor at PennSound http://www.writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/

If we had time, I would have played Frank Kuenstler reading from In Which, Joe Brainard reading from I Remember, Darren Wershler-Henry reading from The Tape Worm Foundry, Christian Bok reading from Eunioa, and Kenny Goldsmith reading from Fidget (also a print and online project). As I write this is occurs to me that all of these Oulipian writers (third-wave sounds too formal) are also visual artists—Frank the filmmaker, Joe a painter and collage artist, Darren a book designer and Internet theorist, Christian a performance artist, and Kenny a 'trained' sculptor.

... read more about the contemporary controversy surrounding Flarf at http://jacketmagazine.com/30/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flarf_poetry Also makes for a fun writing exercise.

re: Project One

Project 1

Due week 5, September 28th, in class.

==

Make a relationship between two (pre-existing) "texts."

Text here should be considered as a cultural and social object.

Option 1:
Make an html "hypertext" website that makes a relationship (or relationships) between your two "texts" using text only (no images or sound). Consider how linking between the two texts may illuminate or create new texts, meanings or revelations. The text and page, though absent of images and sound, can be considered visually. Consider color, font choice, font scale, fonts and words in relation to other fonts and words, placement on the page, if and how links are indicated. Consider how the "user/reader" will move through/interact with your text including basic navigation i.e. is there a clear way to go "back" or to another place or is a dead end important to your idea? How does the user/reader know they are "in" one text and not another? Are there points of confusion in which they could be in either? How do the texts unfold over time?

If you are familiar with coding or programming that could make your site more dynamic you are free to use it as long as you stay within the constraints above.

Option 2:
Make a split screen video showing two "texts" side by side. Do not include sound or words (images only). Edit at will. Use minimal or no effects. Consider interrelationships/juxtapositio

ns at every moment. The video should be no longer than 3 minutes.

Bring the project in on disk or drive to show from the class computer.


two examples of option 1:

I and "I" by Vesper Stockwell (be sure to explore both paths)
http://post-post.net/nonlinear07/projects/iandI/

McDonalds/Mao by Kevin (not as neatly resolved in terms of structure, but great choice of texts and some nice formal elements)
http://post-post.net/nonlinear07/projects/mcds_mao/

multiple examples of electronic writing for inspiration from the Electronic Literature Collection:
http://collection.eliterature.org/1/

request a free copy!
http://collection.eliterature.org/

Have fun!