Describing three objects

==== Text ====

http://rhizome.org/editorial/2012/oct/24/interview-tan-lin/

Tan Lin coins the idea of reading as technology, a process of understanding information that changes tone and mental space arrangement depending on the type of text: reading a recipe is different to reading an adventure novel or reading an e-mail. In his book, 'Seven Controlled Vocabularies and Obituary 2004. The Joy of Cooking', he employs different techniques of building atmosphere and enhance the medial experience. What is interesting to note is that he is using writing as a way of diffusing information.

'It would be nice if a book could reduce the amount of knowledge in the air.' 'I like it more when literature generates not a distinct emotion or feeling but a more generalized overall mood, where the web appears to do one’s thinking (or writing/reading) for one.'

==== Art object ====

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Oak_Tree

Michael Craig-Martin's piece, "An Oak Tree" reveals the faith relationship between the audience and the artist. The work consists of a glass of water placed on a shelf and a text description recounting an imaginary interview. In it, questions that approach the nature of the transformation are answered and the impossibility of the change is revealed. The key to the piece is the transformative vision of the viewer

'I considered that in An Oak Tree I had deconstructed the work of art in such a way as to reveal its single basic and essential element, belief that is the confident faith of the artist in his capacity to speak and the willing faith of the viewer in accepting what he has to say. In other words belief underlies our whole experience of art: it accounts for why some people are artists and others are not, why some people dismiss works of art others highly praise, and why something we know to be great does not always move us.' (Michael Craig-Martin: Landscapes, [p.20].)

‘I try to get rid of as much meaning as I can. People’s need to find meanings, to create associations, renders this impossible. Meaning is both persistent and unstable.’ (Michael Craig-Martin: A Retrospective 1968-1989, p.73.)

==== Media object ====

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Experiments_Lain

A dystopian cyberpunk anime series from the late 90s, whose protagonist, Lain, is a key figure of the Wired. The Wired is a network communication system that threatens to establish a purely virtual community, by urging their users to renounce the physical interface. The main concept of the series seems to be deus ex machina, the God in the Machine. As the show progresses, Lain encounters Dark Lain, her doppelgänger on the network and nemesis. This duality is questioned when we find out that destroying real world Lain would make Dark Lain all powerful. The latter's ability to manipulate the memories of Wired users brings up questions of mechanisms of building reality.

See also: Discourse Networks 1800/1900

Reading with Globe