combinatory poetry

     Predating Hypertext, combinatory poetics is the oldest genre of electronic literature. I find this fact to be fitting because of the inherently fluid nature of poetry, spanning so many different forms just in paper that it makes sense it would be the first paper-based writing style to move into electronic literature. I also find the deeper exploration of Dada really interesting, because a lot of social media trends and a lot of memes today use audience responses, randomness, and abstract use of language and sound material. I would never have identified this as Dada but as I look up older examples of Dada art, I find it similar to memes, most notably Marcel Duchamp's "water fountain" which would have been a riot today. How different is his "water fountain" from some of the outrageous outfits that Lady Gaga wears in terms of practicality and usage? 
     Dada is an old artistic movement but because of the variable nature of technology and the internet, the art created online, especially if popular, will be modified, commodified, used, remixed, sampled, and referenced time and time again in new art. This allows Dada to really flourish as an art movement, because the internet, regardless of if you want to or not, will borrow aspects of popular imagery and sound to produce their own, lengthening the larger "joke" of the art. Memes are just photos, taken at the right time to produce an image that others can project thoughts into and just with one photo can arise thousands of variations on the image. I would say the internet is the perfect environment for this artistic movement to start again or to continue, as I would say the internet is already creating works of art that could be categorically Dada. I found an article that also furthers this argument I am making:

https://www.polygon.com/2018/12/17/18142124/shitposting-memes-dada-art-history

My bring-it-to-the-table is a video showcasing a man reading the scripts written by a bot forced to watch 1000 hours of a television show or genre entertainment, then create a script using what it has already watched. This reminded me of the software discussed in the reading that uses coding to write letters, short phrases, or procedures to produce writing. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_MVzVFPh6I

The man reading is not the actual creator of the bot, instead, Keaton Patti seems to be the creator. The bot, when it's not watching a thousand hours of whatever it's fed, wrote a book as well, which is available for purchase. Here is a short youtube video discussing it with the creators as they make a mockumentary. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33CvXxLYp2c

Comments

  1. Hannah S.February 13, 2023 at 9:20 AM

    That's interesting that the bot is able to copy or replicate what it is viewing. I've seen some bots like this but it replicated a style or sound of a song/artist. It highlights how formulaic tv, books, songs, and other media are since the bot can find a pattern or style to replicate. I'm interested in hearing more about this in class because it's something I don't have a lot of knowledge on!

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  2. AnnaFebruary 14, 2023 at 6:30 PM

    Crazy to see what some bots are capable of doing now. The poem was interesting to read

    ReplyDelete

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