Texts by mez breeze

3 June, 5pm-8pm
Reading Room in Arnolfini and online at
http://automatist.net/deptofreading/wiki/pmwiki.php/CommonPractice
contact common_practice on Skype to join the session
(next sessions: 24 June, 9 and 30 September)
Italo Calvino said ‘the storyteller explored the possibilities implied in
his own language by combining and changing the permutations of the figures
and the actions, and of the objects on which these actions could be brought
to bear’. It is by following this principle that common practice will start.

The first session will open with mez breeze’s mezangelle poems, written in a
blend of code and language, and we will be practising a simultaneous
reading/writing reworking of these texts to experience their language-code
operations during the event.

common practice is a reading group that uses Wiki and Skype to perform a
Calvino-style manipulation of texts. Through unpredictable cobbling together
of texts, poetry, people, code, language, Wiki, chat, conversations etc. we
will co-produce untagged and free style body/ies of knowledge.

The reading groups that make up common practice will take place in June and
September. You are invited to read, write, tinker with and intervene in the
literary and theoretical texts and poetry together with others through the
simple-to-use online tools. You can join us in the Reading Room at Arnolfini
or online and via Skype (contact: common_practice).

common practice references the widespread and increasingly familiar activity
of using online tools in everyday to communicate, contact, work, socialise,
play, research, be entertained etc. The practice embodies the curiosity to
experience ways in which human and machine skills and abilities perform
together.

More importantly, however, common practice also refers to the fact that it
is done in common – together with others. Thus it is social space of
knowledge materialised through co-labour, codeworking and language. Anxiety,
concern and conflict might be part of the practice in the same way that
curiosity, hospitality and kindness are hoped for. This is practice in flux,
nomadic practice that exists in the common. Knowledge and experiences
generated during the session will be captured by its users.

common practice is a series of curated events initiated by Magda
Tyzlik-Carver, hosted by the Reading Room in Arnolfini, and online by
Department of Reading
http://automatist.net/deptofreading/wiki/pmwiki.php/CommonPractice and
project.arnolfini  http://project.arnolfini.org.uk/?t=5 .

Please bring your own laptop with wireless enabled to join the common
practice in the Reading Room. If you don’t have your own laptop, there will
be a common computer available to use by those without one. Wiki-page will
be also projected on the wall so it will be possible to follow the practice.

- MANUAL FOR THE COMMON PRACTICE SESSION -

In order to take part in common practice all you need is an account on Skype
and a connection to the internet for the time of the session. You can also
join us in the Reading Room at Arnolfini at the time of the session. Please
bring your laptop with you.

The space of the session is a Skype-chat and a Wiki-page. The Wiki
(http://automatist.net/deptofreading/wiki/pmwiki.php/Seisure) contains two
poems by mez breeze, each line marked by a number.

The Department of Reading Internet System (doris) connects the chat and the
pool directly. doris listens to the chat, records all entries and allows for
manipulation of the poems directly through the chat. In this session we will
make use of the module [getput]. This module consists of two commands,
namely [get], which allows to get any one of the lines from the poems
directly to the chat; and [put], which allows to put any entry of the chat
into any one of the numbered lines on the Wiki.

To get any line from one of the poems into the chat, write: “get 1″ or “get
6″ depending on which section you want to get the line from. The text will
not be deleted on the Wiki, but can be altered in the chat and replaced
later on by using the command “put”. In between the two poems is an empty
column that can as well be addressed by the commands [get] and [put] via the
related numbers – this will become operative during the session.

doris allows to modify, rewrite, edit or manipulate the poems with the
command [put]. To place any entry or rewritten line into the poems, write it
in the chat, then press ENTER, and then write: “put 1″ in the chat and press
ENTER again. This will place the entry in line 1 of the Wiki and overwrite
the previously given line of the poem. If you want to position an entry in
section 3 or 4 or 9 or any other, you need to change the number in the
command accordingly. For example, if you want an entry to be in section 4,
the command should be: “put 4″, etc.

There are some signs, so called markups, that allow for italic, bold and
coloured text. They can be used as well through the Skype-chat, simply in
writing them along with the related entry that you would like to post on the
Wiki. In order to set an expression italic, you would have to use two
apostrophes at the beginning and the end of that expression – like
”italic”. When it comes to bold, just use three apostrophes ”’bold”’.
It’s also possible to use colours in this reading session. The signs % is
necessary in this case, again one before the name of the colour, then one
after the name of the colour. Next comes the text and then comes another %
sign to stop the colouring. Like this: %blue%coloured-invisi.belles%.
The mark-up [[<<]] introduces a line-break.

You need to refresh the Wiki-page from time to time to see the changes.
Since the poems easily might interfere with the marks-ups as it plays with
quite similar signs, it can happen that you don’t necessarily get, what you
might have intended with an entry.

A heads-up: the 7th issue of Hyperrhiz, “New Media Subversions,” is now online, guest-edited by Davin Heckman and Hai Ren.

Featuring

• essays from Davin Heckman and Hai Ren, Neil Hennessy, Brian M. Reed, Benjamin J Robertson, Andrew Klobucar, and Brett Phares
• With gallery works by: Neil Hennessy, Nicholas Knouf, Angela Ferraiolo and Mary Flanagan, Jason Nelson, and Brett Phares
• And a very fine review of Matt Kirschenbaum’s Mechanisms, by Dene Grigar.

Hyperrhiz considers submissions on a rolling schedule; our next deadline is August 1st.  We’re now accepting scholarly essays as well as standalone net art/e-lit.  Hyperrhiz is peer-reviewed, ISSN’ed (is that a word?), and is shortly to be indexed in the EBSCO Art & Architecture database.

Free cybernetic implants.

Cheers,
Helen J Burgess
Editor

Christine asked me to put this out to people in the creative industries…so here you are:

Looking for anyone in the art and experimental literature field who uses any iPhone apps, has one made about them, has made one… anything art & app related really is what I am after for a project I am working on related to Apps and Hats, a quirky iPhone application review show. We would love to talk to any artists / designers / performers / similar who could talk with us about their apps! Thanks~

Check out the show: www.appsandhats.com

contact Christine directly here: cmoz@appsandhats.com

Basically, she would like to review any art or experimental writing i-phone apps on her show. It’s an online show with about 50,000 viewers a month, an international audience…so a good platform/showcase for your work.

***

Start out the new year by coming out to the iotaSalon on January 7th. The theme for this screening is Text and Speech. We will be examining works that explore the confluence of abstraction and language. What choices do artists make when using text in abstraction? How do speech and poetry compliment or complicate visuals?

We are still accepting submissions for the Salon, so if you have any work you would like to screen and discuss, please submit it to us.

For DVD submissions, please send to:

The iotaCenter
10401-106 Venice Blvd. #330
Los Angeles, CA 90034

Additionally, please send an email to info@iotacenter.org with:
1. your name, and contact information
2. The title, date, and running time for the work
3. Please tell us that you intend this for the iotaSalon.
for more information, please check our our submission guildelines: http://iotacenter.org/submissions

Alternatively, if you have already submitted work that you feel we should consider for this salon, or if you have any questions about submitting work, please feel free to contact jeremy@iotacenter.org.

–

Stephanie Sapienza
Managing Director
iotaCenter
310-842-8704 work
626-676-6451 cell
stephanie@iotacenter.org

1) Email at implementationphotos at gmail dot com with your postal mailing address, and we will send you an installment of stickers from the novel.

2) Choose interesting places to put the stickers up in public environments and stick them there.

3) Photograph the sticker, attempting to get photos of the sticker both at a close/legible view and from some distance, showing the placement of the sticker in its environment.

3) Standard or high photo resolution on most contemporary digital cameras will work for this — we are trying to get photos that would be of suitable resolution for the book project.

4) Send the photographs to implementationphotos at gmail dot com — in the subject of the email include the location (City, State/Region, Country – you can be more specific if you like) where the photograph was taken and the installment number, which will be indicated on the back of the sticker sheets. Please also indicate if you would like the photo to be attributed to you, or if you would prefer to remain anonymous.

For the purposes of the book project, photos received over the course of the next month (returned before 15 January 2009) will be most useful. By submitting the photos, you agree to grant us the rights to use the photos for the book project and online versions of the project.

Gmail takes up to 25MB attachments per email message.

If you enjoy the experience and would like to put up more stickers, let us know and we will send you another installment.

Happy implementing!

The Electronic Literature Organization’s
Fourth International Conference
& Program of Digitally Mediated Literary Art

June 3-6, 2010
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Organized by the ELO and Writing Digital Media
at the Brown University Literary Arts Program
dedicated to Robert Coover

The Electronic Literature Organization and Brown University’s Literary Arts Program invite submissions to the Electronic Literature Organization 2010 Conference to be held from June 3-6, 2010 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

electronic literature . writing digital media . language-driven digital poesis . literal art

We welcome papers and presentations on a broad range of topics. The conference will focus on the theory, criticism, close-reading, practice and archiving of language-driven digital art and poetics. Our gathering will also embrace all the related cultural practices that continue to be addressed by scholars and artists in our growing field: expressive processing, computational art, artificial cognition and intelligence, aesthetic gaming, information art, codework, digitally mediated performance, network & media art & activism.

In addition we will give a special welcome to papers that engage with the contribution that Robert Coover has made to our field. A festschrift comprised of papers from the conference is proposed and Professor Coover will be our chief featured eWriter. (Other featured speakers to be announced shortly.)

In conjunction with the three-day conference, there will be a juried Program of Language-Driven Digital Art, concentrating on but not confined to installation works. We plan to show the selected work in gallery spaces close to the conference venue in downtown Providence over a two week period. Subject to funding restrictions, selected artists will be awarded bursaries to assist with attending the conference. Submission guidelines will be posted on the conference website by mid November.

Deadline for Submissions: December 15, 2009
Notification of Acceptance: January 25, 2010
PLEASE NOTE: Deadline for full papers will be May 1, 2010 to allow for reflection and exchange on the papers prior to the conference and to get head-start in the publication process.

The basic cost of the conference is $150; graduate students and non-affiliated artists pay only $100. Conference registration covers access to all events, the reception, some meals, and shuttle transportation. All conference attendees are also expected to join the ELO before the conference and this can be done at registration.

We are planning to implement online submission and registration. Before submitting, please consult the conference website at:   http://ai.eliterature.org

(The above URL was not redirecting when this was first distributed. Until it is, please use:)
http://www.brown.edu/Conference/Electronic_Literature_Organization

After consulting the website, for further queries and all email correspondence contact:  elo.ai@eliterature.org

The above address should be used for all conference business. It will checked by myself and also those colleagues and students who will be assisting me with the conference organization. But I appreciate that you may sometimes also want to get in touch with the conference organizer: John Cayley Literary Arts Program – Box 1923, Brown University, 68 1/2 Brown Street, Providence, RI 02912, USA. office: +1 401 863 3966, John_Cayley@brown.edu

FURTHER SUPPORT AND SPONSORSHIP SOLICITED

The Conference is currently sponsored and supported by The Electronic Literature Organization, Brown University Literary Arts Program, Brown University Creative Arts Council, Brown University Library, and the RISD D+M Program. Any organization or individual in receipt of this call who would like to sponsor and support this major international conference, please get in touch. External sponsors are being sought and will be appropriately acknowledged.

To submit to The New River, e-mail a URL where we can find and review your work.
If accepted, you will be asked to upload all files so we can host your piece locally
on our servers. Send all inquiries and submissions to thenewriver@vt.edu.

The New River accepts submissions from September 1 through May 1. The priority
deadline for consideration for our Fall 2009 issue is November 16, 2009. Visit

Transliteracy Conference

Tuesday 9 February 2010, 9:30 – 17:30

Phoenix Square Digital Media Centre, Leicester, UK

In association with the Institute of Creative Technologies & the NLab Small Business Network,  De Montfort University
www.transliteracy.com/conference2010.html

Deadline for Abstracts:  1 December, 2009

Transliteracy is the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.  Since 2005, when Professor Sue Thomas introduced this concept in the UK, transliteracy has been taken up and explored by a broad range of academics and practitioners, from information scientists to literary theorists, artists and writers. The first Transliteracy Conference will take place at Leicester’s new Phoenix Square Digital Media Centre, on 9 Feb 2010.  This one-day event offers an opportunity for academics, artists, business people and practitioners to share discoveries, ideas, and creative works that amplify and augment transliteracy research.

This Call for Presentations invites 250 word abstracts.  Presentations should be 10-15 minutes in duration, and can be used to show work or deliver a short paper.  The Conference Panel will group presentations together thematically in sessions scheduled to include time to explore the issues and ideas raised through discussion.  Phoenix Square is well equipped with the latest technology, so presenters will be able to show work on screen and via the internet.

Themes to be explored include:

• transliteracy and libraries
• transliteracy and the arts
• transliteracy in education
• transliteracy in communications
• transliteracy in the workplace
• transliteracy and transdisciplinarity
• transliteracy in action – examples of transliterate works, like digital fiction, networked arts projects, or library resources

Abstracts should be submitted in the body of an email to transliteracy@googlemail.com  Please include a 100-word bio and contact email address.
Deadline for abstracts is 1 December, 2009; notification of acceptance by 18 December, 2009.
Further information can be obtained from Louisa Allen at transliteracy@googlemail.com
We expect to charge a modest delegate fee to cover costs.
Selected materials from the conference will be published online at www.transliteracy.com

For more about The Transliteracy Research Group (TRG) see www.transliteracy.com
To discuss Transliteracy visit transliteracy.ning.com

Jason Nelson in Sebastapol, Australia

All,

Mark Sample’s post and subsequent comment about teaching e-lit…reminded me that easy to use tools such a Google maps is a lovely way to introduce e-lit to beginning writers.

With that in mind, I wanted to announce the theme of NetPoetic’s first contest.   Using Google maps, create a small work of Electronic Literature/Fiction/Poetry/Creative Non-Fiction. I’ll be announcing more specifics soon. But first, start exploring the idea, spreading to your current or past courses/students and others who might be interested. And send across ideas or notions or thoughts on how we might judge something like this and indeed interest in helping out as judge.

A preliminary due date is sometime in December, with the top seven featured here and the winner and runner-ups getting some kind of prize.

Drop me a line or leave comments here with ideas and offers of happy help.

cheers, Jason Nelson

In(ter)ventions will explore the edges of literature, where technology, innovation, and literary practice meet. There is also open call for papers (deadline Oct. 15, 2009).