Laboratory of New York Life Assignment 4: Persona

August 6, 2009

For our next assignment, we were supposed to create and document a performance piece designed to be executed in public. Inspired by Yoko Ono and Marina Abramović, I wondered what performance art might look like in the post-Internet world. Here was the result:

Digital Writing with Python Final: Poetry Reading

For the final, I decided to read a retrospective of my work for the class including some of my best generations of Facebook posts, Whitmanesque poetry, and common texts with large words removed.


For the Facebook posts, I included:

First bunch of wires, my energy
First eliminator of chemistry, my girl
First huts of meat, my concern

Facebook: servo for trackers
Facebook: guns for chamber

Chris: is supervising the pans to Apollo scheduler

steaming tray
blaze!

Chris: has just overlapped his crushed apparatus to the thundered runaway of an Indian scab smells
Chris: has just discovered his iPhone thanks to the sponsored skill of an Indian victims scratchpad.

New York is the ballistic Seattle.

Chris: allowed acquittals dented in the rain at toolbox sweepers. How rearing.
Chris: breaking death directed in the elapse at verbs poisons. How recessing.

Chris: is arranging on a tactical Facebook silk vessels navigator in Python.

From the Whitmanesque poetry generator I read:

Beauty, Spring, Longing and Forever

Beauty, deep, cruel, good--beauty full of consequences, octobers, flesh,
Do you know that Longing may come after you with equal consequences, octobers, flesh?
Spring sharp and hard-spring of the light resolution, overtime, stores, stone,
The Forever follows close with millions of resolution, and shave and jumping cheaters.

Innocence, Snow, Corruption and Withered fruit

Innocence, rotten, sweet, fierce--innocence full of possession, circulations, glides,
Do you know that corruption may come after you with equal possession, circulations, glides?
Snow tangible and cold-snow of the sick operators, mitts, coupling, scratchpad,
The Withered Fruit follows close with millions of operators, and priority and boiling net.

Beauty, Spring, Time and Eternal

Beauty, fair, short, fine--beauty full of deduction, manifests, flow,
Do you know that Time may come after you with equal deduction, manifests, flow?
Spring loud and interesting-spring of the cruel raincoat, reports, balloon, withdrawals,
The Eternal follows close with millions of raincoat, and combination and dreaming september.

And from my large word stripper, I read:

The

O say can you see by the
so we at the
and the
the we so
And the red the in air
the our was
O say yet
the of the and the of the

My tis of

My tis of
of
Of I
my
of the

Let
My
of the
Thy I
I thy and
Thy and
My
My of
Let the
And all the

Let
Let all
Let
The
Our God to
of
To we
may our be

us by Thy
God our

Here's a look at my latest code for the Facebook status updater (it's messier than I would like, but I was under a deadline!):