Camille Utterback – Text Rain

 

 

Text Rain is an interactive art piece made by Camille Utterback in 1999. To experience Text Rain a person stands in front of a projection screen, causing then to appear on the screen. Letters continuously fall from the top of the screen and land on the image of the person. The meaning of the interactive artwork is not fully understood until enough of the letters are caught. The letters caught by the participant are not random letters. The letters come from the following poem “Talk, You” by Evan Zimroth.

http://camilleutterback.com/projects/text-rain/

Concrete Poetry

I have taken a real liking to concrete poetry.

I was under the impression that concrete poetry and visual poetry was the same.

But apparently “concrete poetry” is words of a poem in the form of a shape.

While “visual poetry” is art made from a poem.

The following poem I used in my assignment 2 is an example of concrete poetry.

Star

Light

Star bright,

Star shining

In the dark of

night, over a cavern deep and dark, Inside the cave

a baby’s born, who shall die on the cross, But

Do not mourn, for he is the one to save

our race, for we have fallen

from grace, Three kings

and three shepherds have

Come by your light, through

this cold,                      dark, and

winter                          y nig

h                                  t.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   –     Stephen Neville

This piece is named “Star Light”. I tried to find other poems done by the author but came up with nothing. It is also possible I might have gotten the author wrong.

My Bedside Table

My Bedside Table

Old age is catching up with me,
From my toes up to my head.
I felt it most while gazing
At this table by my bed.

I laid my hair piece over there,
My own has grown quite thin.
The hearing aid is next to it;
I’m deaf ’til its put in.

Also, I can’t see a thing,
Without my glasses on.
They’re beside my false teeth;
Yes, my own are gone.

I kinda get the feeling
As at those things I stare……
There’s less of me here in this bed
Than on that table there.

 

I liked this poem that a friend of mine showed me.

I tried searching around for the poet who wrote this, but to no avail.

Fish’s Night Song

−
⋃ ⋃
− −
⋃ ⋃ ⋃ ⋃
− − −
⋃ ⋃ ⋃ ⋃
− − −
⋃ ⋃ ⋃ ⋃
− − −
⋃ ⋃ ⋃ ⋃
− −
⋃ ⋃
−

– Christian Morgenstern

This piece is called “Fisches Nachtgesang” or in English the “Fish’s Night Song”.

I have no idea on what this piece is supposed to be about.

But I look forward on hearing the comments of my fellow classmates.

A good site of poems

https://theondioline.wordpress.com/

is a website blog I stumbled around while doing assignment 2.

Very useful, great insight into meaning behind various poems.

(Would have been very useful at the beginning of semester)

 

Also using

http://www.ubu.com/

UbuWeb is a completely independent resource dedicated to all strains of the avant-garde, ethnopoetics, and outsider arts. (description by UbuWeb)

Limitations

I am finding the huge limitations of using wordpress.com.

I was attempting to get access to these pages and change them in code but apparently wordpress.com doesnt allow that
I understand this is free so there will be limitations.

Normally what people would do is go wordpress.org to get their own wordpress blog(still have to find someone to host it)

There are free web hosts for wordpress

So I could set it up

Ill have to look some more into it.

 

William Carlos Williams – Silliman

Actually by strange coincidence I came across Silliman’s Blog while researching more about Xenotexts(I add the link to it in my links)
I kinda got lost in the xenotexts. Just reading reviews and visiting almost any website with a reference to it.

 

Silliman has onlya few threads on William Carlos Williams

 

Silliman considers “Spring & All” to be one of WCW best works.

Apparently when WCW published his book “Spring and All”  in 1923 it was considered a failure.

But when the book was republished in 1970 as “Spring & All” it was a hit.

Illustrating the point that poetry is not just made of words but also depends on shape.
Silliman also talked about how WCW utilized his personal life as a muse for his romance poems.

Christian Bok

Christian Bok is attempting to do something very adventurous in bringing poetry and microbiology

Previously scientists have used bacteria to store messages

In 2003 a group of scientist managed encoding the song “It’s a small world” into bacteria.

They even monitored the bacteria to see if the song mutated but it stayed the same even after 100 bacteria generations(which in some bacteria can be anything from 20minutes to 24 hours)

The intentions of the scientists is simply to find a new method of storing data. The scientist are mostly working with the bacteria “Deinococcus radiodurans”, a bacteria that has been tested as the most resilient form of bacteria known to human beings. With hopes of storing data a timeless action, to literally have data that would live forever(or a very very long time)

But what christian bok is trying to do is not only code a poem into bacteria but he also want it to reply.

Bok has actually carried out his experiment on the bacteria E. Coli and it received amazing reltus.

His poem which starts with “any style of life” got a reply of “the faery is rosy”.
He also intends to utilize the “Deinococcus radiodurans” bacteria initial testing is complete.

Its like talking to the bacteria.

I can’t help but envision a future where we can literally talk to a heart, or maybe ask whats wrong with it.

It seems to be a project that will take some time but the result should be worth the time.

 

Ron Silliman’s views on the project: http://ronsilliman.blogspot.ca/2011/05/deinococcus-radiodurans-future-of.html

Progress

Things figured out:

• Must approve of comment before it gets seen
• Figured out how to change appearance
• Activated RSS Feed

Drunk Driving Public Service Announcement (Ad)

I got this in an e-mail

I guess it is a chain letter people send around

I went to a party Mom,
I remembered what you said.
You told me not to drink, Mom,
So I drank soda instead. 

I really felt proud inside, Mom,
The way you said I would.
I didn’t drink and drive, Mom,
Even though the others said I should.

I know I did the right thing, Mom,
I know you are always right.
Now the party is finally ending, Mom,
As everyone is driving out of sight.

As I got into my car, Mom,
I knew I’d get home in one piece.
Because of the way you raised me,
So responsible and sweet..

I started to drive away, Mom,
But as I pulled out into the road,
The other car didn’t see me, Mom,
And hit me like a load.

As I lay there on the pavement, Mom,
I hear the policeman say,
“The other guy is drunk,” Mom,
And now I’m the one who will pay.

I’m lying here dying, Mom….
I wish you’d get here soon.
How could this happen to me, Mom?
My life just burst like a balloon..

There is blood all around me, Mom,
And most of it is mine.
I hear the medic say, Mom,
I’ll die in a short time.

I just wanted to tell you, Mom,
I swear I didn’t drink.
It was the others, Mom.
The others didn’t think.

He was probably at the same party as I.
The only difference is, he drank
And I will die.

Why do people drink, Mom?
It can ruin your whole life.
I’m feeling sharp pains now.
Pains just like a knife.

The guy who hit me is walking, Mom,
And I don’t think it’s fair.
I’m lying here dying
And all he can do is stare.

Tell my brother not to cry, Mom.
Tell Daddy to be brave.
And when I go to heaven, Mom,
Put “GOOD BOY ” on my grave.

Someone should have told him, Mom,
Not to drink and drive.
If only they had told him, Mom,
I would still be alive.

My breath is getting shorter, Mom.
I’m becoming very scared.
Please don’t cry for me, Mom.
When I needed you, you were always there.

I have one last question, Mom.
Before I say good bye.
I didn’t drink and drive,
So why am I the one to die?

This ad had a pattern almost every first and third line ending with “Mom”