language – sound - picture relationship

My most extensive internet project, New York City Map, is a sort of virtual guide to the most interesting parts of New York City (at least from my point of view). But it isn't a guide in the usual sense. While "walking" through these Web pages you can, as you choose, find yourself "standing" on a particular street, you can walk or go by subway direction you want, you can meet people and even "talk to them". In contrast to traditional maps, the aim of NYCMap is not to document the layout of the city or point out its most famous tourist attractions. With the NYCMap I've tried to capture the atmosphere, the energy, or that Something which I think makes New York City so curiously different from other cities with skyscrapers. At the same time, this project is my personal diary, a document of time I spent there since 1999. [Taken from official website, http://www.bankova.cz/marketa/prace/work.html ]

The idea is to create a structure online, where authors, but also soundengineers, videoartists and graphicaldesigners kan make contributions to the same history-universe, with special emphazies on the litetterary. The history should not be understood in a lineary sense, but rather as an experience of a story where each piece ( picture, sound) could be experienced unchronologically. The way [the author does] this is by creating a text-concept that can be visualized in a graphical form. The authors have to pertain to this form and place their text in a visual room. Their text will then become apparent as a visual grapical element in relations to the other elements. The reason [the author] calls it a "performance" is because the creation of this little universe is being controlled by [the author] and will transpire over several days. Contributers are placed in several countries and everything will be run online, by email and ICQ. And probably a phonecall or two.

Source: author's description

From April 1, 2000 to April 1 2001, David Jhave Johnston launched his career as a digital poet with a year of poetry experiments using Flash. Titled “Nomad Lingo,” he published several e-poems every month— producing a treasure trove of works that attest to his raw talent, whimsical style, and the ability to create a lyrical voice through lines that are both sensuous and theoretically engaging.

Some aspects he experiments with is how kinetic language and pacing can evoke different meanings and shape tone. For example, the flame-like words in “Watching Fire” is so much more relaxing than the frantic “Me Critters.” Similarly, the lines in “Ceaseless,” while fast-paced, are readable and put reader’s at ease, while “Flood” overwhelms the reader with its accelerating pace and movement. He also works with minimalist interactivity in “Irreconciliable” and “Tsunami” by making the letters and lines respond to mouseovers to reveal other texts.

(Source: Leonardo Flores)