Andrews and Kearns -> Western Front, Vancouver, Tues Nov 16

Nov. 14, 2004

Type: discussion

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City: Vancouver
Place: Western Front
Series: Upgrade!
Date: Tuesday Nov 16
Time: 7:30 pm

I'll be showing On Lionel Kearns ( http://turbulence.org/spotlight/kearns )
this Tuesday at Western Front. The presentation will occassionally break
into discussion, so we might not cover the whole piece, but that's OK; it's
on the Net. It'll go about an hour and then we go for a drink down the
street.

It could be an interesting mix of people. Lionel, who will be there, has
lived in Vancouver a long time, has published many books, other work such as
animated poetry videos, other visual poems, and his involvement in Vancouver
poetry goes back to the late fifties. He was associated somewhat with Tish
in the sixties. Frank Davey, who was also involved in Tish, said of it:

"Tish marks the turning point of British Columbia poetry away from the
shadows of derived, humanistic, Toronto-focused writing and toward the light
of its own energies."

Tish didn't have much to do with visual poetry or video or other media apart
from print, however, unlike Kearns's work. Kearns did a PhD in London in
Structural Linguistics during the sixties, so was back and forth between
Vancouver and London, where he was involved in experimental poetries
"liberating poetry from the page."

The first piece of work that I saw of Lionel's was a visual poem called
"Birth of God/uniVerse" (or "BoG"):

He posted this to a list called canpoetics (on canadian poetics). I was
struck by the piece itself but also by when he did it: 1965. Being, myself,
interested in visual poetry and the binary, we began to correspond
occassionally, and I obtained some of his books, after some searching, from
online book stores. Some of his writings were brilliantly prescient
concerning digital poetry. He wrote occassionlly about computers and poetry
with parabolic insight. And has been involved in various ways with digital
poetry for a long time. For instance, he was the first writer-in-residence
in the Swift Current project (see
http://www.ubu.com/papers/ol/jirgens.html ) during the eighties.

After reading Lionel's work for a while, I had come across several passages
that made direct or indirect reference to fractals, in a metaphorical way,
and I was learning 'imaging Lingo' at the time, coincidentally, which is a
handful of Director programming tools that permit detailed processing of
bitmaps, down to the level of the pixel. So I started experimenting with
Lionel's work using things like 'monitor feedback' on it (feedback is
crucial to fractals). There was also his concern with the binary in works
such as "Birth of God/uniVerse" which seemed to invite binary processing.
And various other related themes in his work emerged that leant themselves
to being able to come up with processing that was not merely 'wow' but
actually relevant to what he was talking about. Besides, these days, my
writing and my reading move through my programming pretty frequently. I can
barely read without writing/programming in response.

Lionel sent me two animated poetry videos from the early seventies on VCR
that I found fascinating also in their relation to net.art. One of them, a
film version of "BoG", is interesting in its relation to animated poetry on
the Web. If "BoG" is of the binary, the other video is of the unary. Not
0/1, yes/no, on/off, but just plain "No". Both of these videos are included
in On Lionel Kearns.

I read other things like a 1990 interview with Kearns that contains quite an
affirmation of the small screen, which I thought was pretty cool:

GEOFFREY ZAMORA: Sounds like a pretty interesting art form to me. So why
aren't you working with poetry any more.

LIONEL KEARNS: I AM working with it. But I have a wider definition of poetry
than you seem to have. Poetry is literature (i.e. art made out of language)
that focuses attention upon its form rather than merely upon its content.
Poetry existed long before paper was available, and it is still a valid art
form now that the screen has replaced the page as the most convenient place
to objectify thought and explore ideas.

GEOFFREY ZAMORA: You mean more film and video poems, but now easier to
produce?

LIONEL KEARNS: Well, perhaps. It is not the big public screens that are the
important ones, but the small personal screens on your desk tops. It is
there that the interactive performance occurs.

GEOFFREY ZAMORA: Interactive performance?

LIONEL KEARNS: Yes, the play of language, in all its magnificent extensions,
including action, sound, color, graphics, and voice, and most important, the
response of the poem to the reader. Have you never heard of hypertext?

GEOFFREY ZAMORA: Don't you mean response of the reader to the poem?

LIONEL KEARNS: Yes, that too, but we have always had that. What I am
interested in is the response of the poem to the reader.

It was very encouraging to read Lionel affirming the small screen. It is,
after all, the scene of most of our writing and, increasingly, our reading.
The small screen is the scene of our writerly cogitations. Very encouraging
also to read of his interest in interactive poetry back in 1990.

Anyway, if you are in Vancouver on Tuesday, we'll be at Western Front at
7:30. Many thanks to Kate Armstrong for hosting the event. Hope to see you
there.

ja
http://vispo.com/kearns

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City:    =

Vancouver Place:  Western Front Series:
Upgrade! Date:    Tuesday Nov 16 Time:  &nbs=
p;
7:30 pm I'll be showing On Lionel Kearns ( <A
href="http://turbulence.org/spotlight/kearns" target=_blank>http://turbulence.org/spotlight/kearns</A>
) this Tuesday at Western Front. The presentation will occassionally break =
into
discussion, so we might not cover the whole piece, but that's OK; it's on t=
he
Net. It'll go about an hour and then we go for a drink down the
street. It could be an interesting mix of people. Lionel, who will b=
e
there, has lived in Vancouver a long time, has published many books, other =
work
such as animated poetry videos, other visual poems, and his involvement in=

Vancouver poetry goes back to the late fifties. He was associated somewhat =
with
Tish in the sixties. Frank Davey, who was also involved in Tish, said of
it: "Tish marks the turning point of British Columbia poetry away fr=
om
the shadows of derived, humanistic, Toronto-focused writing and toward the =
light
of its own energies." Tish didn't have much to do with visual poetry=
or
video or other media apart from print, however, unlike Kearns's work. Kearn=
s did
a PhD in London in Structural Linguistics during the sixties, so was back a=
nd
forth between Vancouver and London, where he was involved in experimental=

poetries "liberating poetry from the page."
The first piece of work that =
I saw of
Lionel's was a visual poem called "Birth of God/uniVerse" (or
"BoG"):
<IMG alt="" hspace=0
src="cid:603220019@14112004-12ff" align=baseline border=0></FO=
NT>
He posted this to a list call=
ed
canpoetics (on canadian poetics). I was struck by the piece itself but also=
by
when he did it: 1965. Being, myself, interested in visual poetry and the bi=
nary,
we began to correspond occassionally, and I obtained some of his books, aft=
er
some searching, from online book stores. Some of his writings were
brilliantly prescient concerning digital poetry. He wrote occassionlly abou=
t
computers and poetry with parabolic insight. And has been involved in vario=
us
ways with digital poetry for a long time. For instance, he was the first
writer-in-residence in the Swift Current project (see <A
href="http://www.ubu.com/papers/ol/jirgens.html">http://www.ubu.com/paper=
s/ol/jirgens.html</A> )
during the eighties.
After reading Lionel's work f=
or a while,
I had come across several passages that made direct or indirect reference t=
o
fractals, in a metaphorical way, and I was learning 'imaging Lingo' at the =
time,
coincidentally, which is a handful of Director programming tools that permi=
t
detailed processing of bitmaps, down to the level of the pixel. So I starte=
d
experimenting with Lionel's work using things like 'monitor feedback' on it=

(feedback is crucial to fractals). There was also his concern with the bina=
ry in
works such as "Birth of God/uniVerse" which seemed to invite binary process=
ing.
And various other related themes in his work emerged that leant themselves =
to
being able to come up with processing that was not merely 'wow' but actuall=
y
relevant to what he was talking about. Besides, these days, my writing and =
my
reading move through my programming pretty frequently. I can barely read wi=
thout
writing/programming in response. 
Lionel sent me two animated p=
oetry
videos from the early seventies on VCR that I found fascinating also in the=
ir
relation to net.art. One of them, a film version of "BoG", is interesting i=
n its
relation to animated poetry on the Web. If "BoG" is of the binary, the othe=
r
video is of the unary. Not 0/1, yes/no, on/off, but just plain "No". Both o=
f
these videos are included in On Lionel Kearns.
I read other things like a 19=
90
interview with Kearns that contains quite an affirmation of the small scree=
n,
which I thought was pretty cool:
GEOFFREY ZAMORA: Sounds like a pr=
etty
interesting art form to me. So why aren't you working with poetry any more.=


LIONEL KEARNS: I AM working with =
it. But I
have a wider definition of poetry than you seem to have. Poetry is
literature (i.e. art made out of language) that focuses attention upon its =
form
rather than merely upon its content. Poetry existed long before paper =
was
available, and it is still a valid art form now that the screen has replace=
d the
page as the most convenient place to objectify thought and explore
ideas. 
GEOFFREY ZAMORA: You mean more fi=
lm and
video poems, but now easier to produce?
LIONEL KEARNS: Well, perhaps.&nbs=
p;It is
not the big public screens that are the important ones, but the small perso=
nal
screens on your desk tops. It is there that the interactive performance occ=
urs.

GEOFFREY ZAMORA: Interactive
performance?
LIONEL KEARNS: Yes, the play of l=
anguage,
in all its magnificent extensions, including action, sound, color, graphics=
, and
voice, and most important, the response of the poem to the reader. Have you=

never heard of hypertext?
GEOFFREY ZAMORA: Don't you mean r=
esponse
of the reader to the poem?
LIONEL KEARNS: Yes, that too, but=
we have
always had that. What I am interested in is the response of the poem t=
o the
reader.
It was very encouraging to read Lionel affirming the =
small
screen. It is, after all, the scene of most of our writing and, increasingl=
y,
our reading. The small screen is the scene of our writerly cogitations. Ver=
y
encouraging also to read of his interest in interactive poetry back in
1990.
Anyway, if you are in Vancouv=
er on
Tuesday, we'll be at Western Front at 7:30. Many thanks to Kate Armstrong f=
or
hosting the event. Hope to see you there.
ja <A
href="http://vispo.com/kearns">http://vispo.com/kearns</A> =
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