The article first recalls the historical evolution of computer poetry which, from Théo Lutz (1959) to alire (1989), evolves from experimentation to cultural entity. The emphasis is placed on the French evolution through its main expressions, which are the A.L.A.M.O., the first telematic review Art-Access the Les Immatériaux exhibition and the birth of L.A.I.R.E., a difference of viewpoints, of approaches and of the space given by the authors to computer poetry concerning the arts, the machine and the text. This progressive differentiation of focus questions approaches which were thought to be unchanging, regarding the notions of text, reader and author. This questioning started with the A.L.A.M.O. and progressed with L.A.I.R.E. Its description and the expression of the answers it proposes requires a new critical approach to the notion of text, more anchored in a communication pattern which has been developing since 1993 and whose present state is summed up in the third part. The article ends by demonstrating that the smooth running of alire is the full expression of what these new answers imply.
(Source: Visible Language website)