Invisible Cities: Alex Monteith

NOt having read "Invisible Cities" leaves me myself vulnerable to
critique of course – but I do know some of Calvino's work. But may I
dare to question why searching altavista for images based on 2000
common nouns could give me results that are something like " the shape
the book would have taken if the emperor had been more techno-savvy" ??

I wanted to end this with a Gertrude Stein quote, which I thought was
"a word has no meaning a sentence has" – but then I realized I was
unsure if I'd quoted correctly – was it perhaps "a sentence has no
meaning a paragraph has"?? I thus spent a good part of a half hour
trying to find the quote – and realized that while it is easy to find
something "on the internet", it's vicously difficult to find something
SPECIFIC.

So – back to the piece above – it's obviously a useful script. But as
a work of art – it's just too easy.

Cheers
Geert
(http://nznl.com)



On 19-okt-04, at 4:22, Luke Duncalfe wrote:

> Retrieving pages of images from the AltaVista search engine, Invisible
> Cities by Alex Monteith sets in movement an infinite zootrope of
> places, people and random information sourced from the distant
> cityscapes of the Internet.
>
> Scripted by Sean Kerr, the work reveals images based on 2,000 nouns
> from Italo Calvino's influential novel of the same name. In Calvino's
> Invisible Cities the qualities of fictional cityscapes are relayed
> back home, search engine-like, to the awaiting emperor Khan. In
> Monteith's work, the landscapes of cities are replaced by the
> landscapes of information media: the shape the book would have taken
> if the emperor had been more techno-savvy.
>
> The work is a conceptual play between the retrieval of images, both
> textual and graphic, and of language (AltaVista means "a view from
> above"). It is every bit as sharp and quirky as is the novel script it
> uses as its source; a response to the text and to the invisible
> architecture of the Internet in equal measure.
>
> At Window: http://www.window.auckland.ac.nz/
> +
> -> post: [email protected]
> -> questions: [email protected]
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe: http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> -> visit: on Fridays the Rhizome.org web site is open to non-members
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>

Hmmm..yes..this is perhaps a *slightly*.. inflated
claim…
<It is every bit as sharp and quirky as is
the novel script it
uses as its source; >
& what is a *novel script*?
— Geert Dekkers <[email protected]> wrote:

> NOt having read "Invisible Cities" leaves me myself
> vulnerable to
> critique of course – but I do know some of
> Calvino's work. But may I
> dare to question why searching altavista for images
> based on 2000
> common nouns could give me results that are
> something like " the shape
> the book would have taken if the emperor had been
> more techno-savvy" ??
>
> I wanted to end this with a Gertrude Stein quote,
> which I thought was
> "a word has no meaning a sentence has" – but then I
> realized I was
> unsure if I'd quoted correctly – was it perhaps "a
> sentence has no
> meaning a paragraph has"?? I thus spent a good part
> of a half hour
> trying to find the quote – and realized that while
> it is easy to find
> something "on the internet", it's vicously difficult
> to find something
> SPECIFIC.
>
> So – back to the piece above – it's obviously a
> useful script. But as
> a work of art – it's just too easy.
>
> Cheers
> Geert
> (http://nznl.com)
>
>
>
> On 19-okt-04, at 4:22, Luke Duncalfe wrote:
>
> > Retrieving pages of images from the AltaVista
> search engine, Invisible
> > Cities by Alex Monteith sets in movement an
> infinite zootrope of
> > places, people and random information sourced from
> the distant
> > cityscapes of the Internet.
> >
> > Scripted by Sean Kerr, the work reveals images
> based on 2,000 nouns
> > from Italo Calvino's influential novel of the same
> name. In Calvino's
> > Invisible Cities the qualities of fictional
> cityscapes are relayed
> > back home, search engine-like, to the awaiting
> emperor Khan. In
> > Monteith's work, the landscapes of cities are
> replaced by the
> > landscapes of information media: the shape the
> book would have taken
> > if the emperor had been more techno-savvy.
> >
> > The work is a conceptual play between the
> retrieval of images, both
> > textual and graphic, and of language (AltaVista
> means "a view from
> > above"). It is every bit as sharp and quirky as is
> the novel script it
> > uses as its source; a response to the text and to
> the invisible
> > architecture of the Internet in equal measure.
> >
> > At Window: http://www.window.auckland.ac.nz/
> > +
> > -> post: [email protected]
> > -> questions: [email protected]
> > -> subscribe/unsubscribe:
> http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> > -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> > -> visit: on Fridays the Rhizome.org web site is
> open to non-members
> > +
> > Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms
> set out in the
> > Membership Agreement available online at
> http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
> >
>
> +
> -> post: [email protected]
> -> questions: [email protected]
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe:
> http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> -> visit: on Fridays the Rhizome.org web site is
> open to non-members
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set
> out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at
> http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>




__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Address AutoComplete - You start. We finish.
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

The net.art backlash has begun! :-)

- Rob.

On Tuesday, October 19, 2004, at 09:48AM, Michael Szpakowski <[email protected]> wrote:

>Hmmm..yes..this is perhaps a *slightly*.. inflated
>claim…
><It is every bit as sharp and quirky as is
> the novel script it
> uses as its source; >
>& what is a *novel script*?
>— Geert Dekkers <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> NOt having read "Invisible Cities" leaves me myself
>> vulnerable to
>> critique of course – but I do know some of
>> Calvino's work. But may I
>> dare to question why searching altavista for images
>> based on 2000
>> common nouns could give me results that are
>> something like " the shape
>> the book would have taken if the emperor had been
>> more techno-savvy" ??

Pretty Cool but the book is still far better.
Nice simple script.

Cheers,
Lee

On 10/18/04 10:22 PM, "Luke Duncalfe" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Retrieving pages of images from the AltaVista search engine, Invisible Cities
> by Alex Monteith sets in movement an infinite zootrope of places, people and
> random information sourced from the distant cityscapes of the Internet.
>
> Scripted by Sean Kerr, the work reveals images based on 2,000 nouns from Italo
> Calvino's influential novel of the same name. In Calvino's Invisible Cities
> the qualities of fictional cityscapes are relayed back home, search
> engine-like, to the awaiting emperor Khan. In Monteith's work, the landscapes
> of cities are replaced by the landscapes of information media: the shape the
> book would have taken if the emperor had been more techno-savvy.
>
> The work is a conceptual play between the retrieval of images, both textual
> and graphic, and of language (AltaVista means "a view from above"). It is
> every bit as sharp and quirky as is the novel script it uses as its source; a
> response to the text and to the invisible architecture of the Internet in
> equal measure.
>
> At Window: http://www.window.auckland.ac.nz/
> +
> -> post: [email protected]
> -> questions: [email protected]
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe: http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> -> visit: on Fridays the Rhizome.org web site is open to non-members
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>

Dear Geert,

 Web Results 1 - 10 of about 10,900,000 for it's just too easy. (0.31 seconds) 

News results for it's just too easy - View today's top stories
Getting good looks – It's a guy thing, too - Miami Herald (subscription) - 20 hours ago
What to do when it's just not working - Independent Online - 26 Oct 2004
Theater review: A play too easy to view as artifice - Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription) - 25 Oct 2004


SimpleBits | List-o-matic: It's Just Too Easy Now
.. List-o-matic: It's Just Too Easy Now. A Notebook entry from September 19,
2003. Ian Lloyd over at Accessify.com just made creating …
www.simplebits.com/notebook/2003/ 09/19/listomatic_its_just_too_easy_now.html - 17k - Cached - Similar pages

KeepMedia | Newsweek: 'It's Just Too Easy'
Home Newsweek 'It's Just Too Easy' Sen. … It is just too easy to do. The cow is out
of the barn and we need to pull the cow back in and lock the door. …
www.keepmedia.com/ShowItemDetails. do?itemID13323&extID037&oliID"9 - Similar pages

Tightly Wound: Sometimes, It's Just Too Easy
.. September 28, 2004. Sometimes, It's Just Too Easy. As Lance said when sending
me this article, "what is there to say, really?". Well …
www.bigarmwoman.com/archives/000567.html - 11k - Cached - Similar pages


Tightly Wound: Comment on Sometimes, It's Just Too Easy
Tightly Wound. Comments: Sometimes, It's Just Too Easy. Remember the people
who put down art saying "My kid could do better than this"? …
www.bigarmwoman.com/cgi-bin/ mt/mt-comments.cgi?entry_idV7 - 8k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from www.bigarmwoman.com ]

Newsweek: 'It's Just Too Easy'
Access the article, ''It's Just Too Easy'' from Newsweek, a publication in the field
of News & Society, through LookSmart's FindArticles service. …
www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ mi_kmnew/is_200211/ai_kepm313323 - 17k - Cached - Similar pages

The Daily Princetonian - Princeton vs. Penn: It's just too easy
Princeton vs. Penn: It's just too easy Anuj Basil and Zack Faigen Princetonian Sports
Editors This yearly column is getting tougher and tougher to write. …
www.dailyprincetonian.com/ archives/2004/02/10/sports/9549.shtml - 25k - Cached - Similar pages

The Command Post - Op-Ed - Sometimes it's Just too Easy
.. July 10, 2004. Sometimes it's Just too Easy. John, You is my Man Now. From
Hog on Ice. Evidently, Whoopi Goldberg appeared at a Kerry …
www.command-post.org/oped/2_archives/013496.html - 32k - Cached - Similar pages

For your information…It's Just Much Too Easy
For your information…It's Just Much Too Easy The Secret Service has asked the US
Sentencing Commission to issue new guidelines on the sentencing of …
www.bankersonline.com/articles/bhv08n03/bhv08n03a7.html - 42k - Cached - Similar pages

HOG ON ICE: Oink about Sometimes it's Just too Easy
HOG ON ICE Steve Has His Eye On You, and Frankly, He Doesn't Like What He Sees.
Oinks: Sometimes it's Just too Easy. Wow. A long stream of "pathetic". …
www.littletinylies.com/cgi-bin/ mt-comments.cgi?entry_id"83 - 8k - Cached - Similar pages


HOG ON ICE: Sometimes it's Just too Easy
.. July 09, 2004. Sometimes it's Just too Easy. John, You is my Man Now. Evidently,
Whoopi Goldberg appeared at a Kerry fundraiser last …
www.littletinylies.com/archives/002283.html - 15k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from www.littletinylies.com ]

Result Page: 
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Next

am

Dear Lee,

 Web Results 1 - 10 of about 66,300 for "book is still ". (0.45 seconds)  
    Sponsored Links
Fishpond.co.nz for Books
With a wide range of books and
great prices, shopping is easy!
www.fishpond.co.nz
See your message here…

Spamming from the book is still junk
E-Life Spamming from the book is still junk By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY It has happened to everyone who has an e-mail address. …
www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/cceli005.htm - 26k - Cached - Similar pages

Auntie Nolo - When a Book Is Still a Book - Nolo
.. Using material for scholarly purposes When a Book Is Still a Book. QUESTION: An acquaintance of mine has a book which came with a …
www.nolo.com/.../ObjectID/018F5CDD-10E9-4546-BDCA1A663A030BCD/ catID/2EB060FE-5A4B-4D81-883B0E540CC4CB1E - 42k - 27 Oct 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Poker Book Reviews - Caro's Book of Poker Tells
.. as of this review), Caro's Book of Poker Tells is still one of the most important poker books ever written, and it's great that this book is still in print. …
www.thepokerforum.com/bookreviews28.htm - 39k - Cached - Similar pages

Mitch Albom - Upcoming Guest Archive Page
.. "Tuesdays With Morrie" - Mitch Albom's seventh book - is still a New York Times bestseller nearly a year and a half after it first made the list! …
www.albom.com/latest_archives.htm - 12k - Cached - Similar pages

Book Reviews
.. I gratefully honour Carl Sagan's memory and pay my respects to his family. The book is still in print in the USA and in the UK. Stranger In A Strange Land. …
www.dreamhawk.com/books3.htm - 14k - Cached - Similar pages


Book Reviews
.. The book is still in print, and is available from Amazon in -USA in paperback, and in the UK in hardback only. Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield. …
www.dreamhawk.com/books4.htm - 13k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from www.dreamhawk.com ]

Development of the Artist's Book - Peter D. Verheyen || The Book …
.. definition. A blank book is still a book, but a blank do decahedron or unmarked spiral of paper is not a book, it is a dodecahedron etc. …
www.philobiblon.com/DevArtistsBook.htm - 31k - Cached - Similar pages

06/08/04: My favorite book is still
06/08/04: My favorite book is still. Posted by: [email protected] (MR_MUCUS). TO SERVE MAN. …
www.mrcranky.com/movies/ harrypotterprisonerofzkaban/99/3.html - 4k - Cached - Similar pages

02/26/1998 - Pennsylvania Current: Labov's 1972 book is still …
IN PRINT / A landmark study of inner-city black talk returns by popular demand. Labov's 1972 book is still something to talk about. BY SANDY SMITH. …
www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/1998/022698/Labov.html - 6k - Cached - Similar pages

Amazon.com: Books: What Color Is Your Parachute? 1999: A Practical …
.. Reviewer: Joseph J. Slevin (Carlsbad, CA United States) - See all my reviews. Bolle's book is still timeless for job seekers of all kinds. …
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ tg/detail/-/1580080081?v=glance - 62k - Cached - Similar pages

Result Page: 
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Next
 

Search

am