}_ST_: 1-3 == vft n[d]ominate[d] }I CHOOSE U MEZZACHU }MEZZACHU uses SLAM }vtf FAINTED }MEZZACHU gained 31 exp }MEZZACHU evolves into MEGA.MEZZUR!!! }_ST_: 1-3 == "The.Canon" n[d]ominate[d] }I CHOOSE U NETWURKACHU }NETWURKACHU uses FEINT }THECANON SLAMS, MISSES }NETWURKACHU +20 xp +20 curiosity +20 playfulness }NETWURKACHU transforms in2 EVOLUTRON!!! ---- [TRANSLATION] ---- When did pseudocode become your main practice/praxis? "My Pseudo_Code_Document[ary]_Odyssey.: A Memoir_. Yep, that could [perhaps should] be the Title of my Autobiography [or at least I should bastardise it as a truncated version for my Graphics Company]. Seriously though [with allusions of "searing" thrown in just to show Serious Cat is Serious]: mezangelle [my pseudocode language] began to take shape in late 1994/95 and has been evolving, revolving + devving/modding-like-a-wonky-revolver-shot since then? -- What compelled you to write online? Initially? If yes, then: "A Mezzian Flesh-Mote enters a library. In a networked sense this library is cold; binary data advancements are yet to make any perceivable impact on its manifest functions. A silvered sliver-glint pulls the Mezzian Mote forward to the only technoniche available -- a computer laboratory, used primarily for word-processing tasks. It also has an Internet connection. A Datadervish [E-Mote] is born, and a Flesh-Mote is extinguished..." [from: _][ad][Dressed in a Skin C.ode_ ] -- Where/When did you see poetry and code collide? Pretty much in that library [also read: dual spliced-allusions of "macho" and "man" and "machismo" all packed in here as an indication of the heavy-duty male population utilizing the Net in 1994/1995]. The experience of being online [ie perceiving the use of early chatrooms + YTalk as a type of "reality poetry" whilst presaging Social Networks as we know them today] paired with my voracious use of Unix/Telnet altered both my communication and creative trajectory forever. It seems like your code work is part of of a response/engagement with the idea that language/writing itself is a form of technology that we take for granted. Are you aiming to complicate traditional notions of the "technological" or are there other subversive reasons behind your work? [Engaging conversational mode] [*beep*];) My code>netwurk process/practice is indeed intended as provocative concerning language-as-socially-"unconscious" sleeper tech. Regarding my expressive aims: I'm always keen to system_question via 1. pinpointing the idiosyncratic/playful option [often consider juvenile by established information_holders>Canonistic structure_maintainers] or 2. revelation/exposure of hidden/marginal[ized] info/data. That may manifest in various ways: through creation [say via code>netwurks or augmentological theory] or [game]play modification. As I've typed previously: "...my emphasis on collaborative efforts include a breaking down of dialogical traditions, of shifting the units of information and communication from the usual and expected to the cryptic...it's about active layering, and encouraging varied interpretation..." [from: http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0002/msg00078.html ] -- How was your language/vernacular changed and developed over the years? Has the emergence of "meme culture" influenced how this rhetoric has developed? Mezangelle development dips + peaks and weaves + wanes + waxes according to specific languages, code, systems or programmatic infrastructures I'm examining/using at any given time. For instance, the pre-translated mezangelle answer to this question reads as a comment threaded tree structure as is commonly found on image/messageboards like 4chan or reddit ["Mezangelle development? Ask me anything"]. The very *point* of mezangelle is its constant build[s]ing/manifestations according to relevant data channelling>molding>participation: meme culture is definitely flavouring all types of my current expression/creativity. As I've noted before: "_Encyclopedia Dramatica_ - and the affiliated imageboard/meme propagation site 4chan - showcase the challenge faced by narrative frameworks. Platforms like _Encyclopedia Dramatica_ encourage troll-based comedic intent. Users remix absurd, and sometimes taboo, content. In particular, invasion boards like _4chan_ utilize shock networking: where social content attempts to subvert social codas through deliberate agitation. In comparison with established narrative conventions, platforms like _Encyclopedia Dramatica_ offer an experimental system which bypasses strict censorship and ethical constraints. These platforms cater for unfiltered interactions that operate via immediacy-of-response. They are highly idiosyncratic in execution and linguistic formation: censorship and moderation may be limited or non-existent. The output is propagative, with contributors encouraged to riff and rip-off, replace, and even delete content. Narrative is deformed beyond a sequential structure whereby the climax or pay-off event becomes the spectacle... ...An example of such modification is Copypasta, which consists of repeatedly copying and pasting blocks of text designed to evoke a heightened emotional response: A time-tested classic. This ending usually comes into play at the climax of a very troubling or exciting situation. Rather than resolve the story, one of the characters will abruptly say something to the effect of "I had Reese's for breakfast." At this point, the other character will completely forget about his/her worries and jump into the corresponding commercial dialogue, enamored by the peanut butter and chocolaty goodness that is Reese's Puffs cereal. "It's Reese's... for breakfast!"" _Copypasta_ derails notions of story or plot progression, resolution or denouement. It embodies context-counteraction* and meme perpetuation. Dramatic intent shifts to reiterative moments containing affectivity spiking which ignores the rigors of institutionalized framing [think: morality, hierarchy or ownership].." [from: Social Tesseracting_: Part 3 ] --. You mention how the early, male dominated web was a huge influence in starting to work online. Do you think that times have changed? Has this progress been measured online (if it has)? How do you think your work is in dialog with or is responding to the Cyberfminist work of artists and thinkers like Cornelia Sollfrank? I didn't mean to infer that the male dominated 1990's web was a *large* influence in my growing online participation: as I began to work + play + create via the net I couldn't-help-but-notice the top-heavy male/masculine orientation. In fact - if anything - it was in equal parts confronting/annoying...but [being a boffin that consistently likes to BRING IT! in terms of challenges] it did [in some ways] help *shape* my practice [ie from initially/actively hiding my gender to the construction of gender-neutral avatars]. I suspect times have *morphed* - in some circles, gender is a concept has been so inverted/(wo)manipulated [ref various synthetic + mixed reality actualities] to have become [essentially] a non issue: in others it is as glass-ceiling-esque + as crushing relevant as ever? Re: the Cyberfeminist label, atm I don't find it particularly inspiring or relevant: in the past I did find it useful in terms of counteracting online machismo [ie epeen]. In Augmentology you discuss and create resources for considering how augmented reality is starting to infiltrate and influence our daily culture. Recently I saw a great quote on Kotaku about how the kinect is "wasted on games." (http://kotaku.com/5697790/kinect-is-wasted-on-video-games) How do you feel the development of this newer technology is influencing how we interact with one another, and how do you think artists can utilize these technologies without falling into novelty? In short: Milo: http://arsvirtuafoundation.org/research/?s=Milo [seriously]. Social media has given you (+ others) an amazing amount of text+img based platforms for interfacing with a global audiences. How do you think artists can engage in these environments while maintaining a critical distance? Or do think this is necessary for artists working online? Critical engagement deployment [whether that be taking a reflective step back from #socnets or diving in headfirst with that awareness/faculty uppermost in terms of output] is crucial regarding the use of social media. And I'm not just talking about from an artists' [or polymath's] POV: *all users* of #socialmedia should operate with a degree of _informed_ engagement about the platforms/formats/software/hardware/gadgets [tablets/smartphones etc] they employ. Issues regarding legality, privacy, and longitudinal aspects involving the longevity of data recording should obvious [duh?] considerations when participating in networks>online. I know that WoW guilds play a role in how you like to think of communities and systems of affinity. Can you talk about how that game environment has influenced your practice. [Interesting: one of the World of Warcraft (WoW) guilds I currently (lazily) co-run is actually called "Affinity":)] I do believe Guild systems [like those in operation in MMOG's + other large scale collaborative games having origins in MUDS/MOOS)] hold enormous power>influence in terms of standards of player behaviour + corresponding patterns of emergent synthetic sodality. How guilds are made, marketed and shaped have an enormous cumulative effect on not only the actual player base in question - these interactions also spill into the [so-called] "real world" [bah, what a oldskool term!;)]. Idiosyncratic language/lingual evolution is amazing in persistent worlds like WoW: they are such fertile areas for poetic modding. I've been mezangelle_emulating MMOG communication since my participation in Everquest [1999] by performing what I term _Poetic Game Interventions_: projecting/interjecting into the conventional chat stream via poetic manipulation and projecting these into a wider networked sphere through reposts, microblog entries etc. I'm also one of the founding [+ current] members of the fantastic Arts Guild called The Third Faction. We try to subvert out-of-the-box gameplay by encouraging empathy and co-operation in an aggressive, progression-loaded game environment. One project of ours is slash-hug [or "/hug"] which "...seeks to establish a non governmental aid organization in World of Warcraft. This exhibit is a mixed reality installation that demonstrates the work of the /hug collective and is inspired in part by the Red Cross. This installation encourages viewer interaction in carrying out Non Governmental Organization of Azeroth missions via hands-on participation...". Awesome, huh:) You've been nominated for the transmediale Vilem Flusser Theory award this year for your series of essays entitled _Social Tesseracting_: parts 1-3. How has your work evolved from poetry to theory (or has it always been intertwined)? My entire process/practice/orientation [probably best to wrap it all up under "output"] is part of the same desire base that drives my life: balance. + I don't mean a diluted pop_psychology concept of balance, I mean the idea of operating from a cluster of entangled principles that allow 4 a sustainable>integrated existence that takes *all* of life's [my life + others] variables [context, environment, perception, etc] into account. As empathy is a *crucial* component of a balanced life, overt competition + Capitalistic pursuits sit fundamentally ill-@-ease with me. That's not to say this system is static [it's far from it] + that it doesn't allow for radical spiking in terms of phenomenological flow/activity. For eg, I've been extremely careful my entire career to avoid falling into a careerist trap where all that's done is focus on wurk [to the extent that other life elements become impoverished/permanently skewed]. In light of this, separating out distinct creative modes ["poetry">"code">"theory"] seems almost pointless in terms of my output: I also acknowledge the majority of people need to do so as labels = comfort. My adherence to [Relational] Holism is so encompassing that it's difficult to tease my output into various compartments that allow for examination + boxed/easy comprehension [same as with my entire life orientation:)]. So, to try to answer your question: my output is continuous[ly morphing] = intertwining through my entire existence state...without getting too wafty, let's just say me+myoutput=curiosity_based+play_loaded+empathetically challenged+[reuse|cycle]adaptive?