V is a 3-part poem that explores a weave of ways to cast and map text. It consists of the digital Vniverse and the 2-part book, V: WaveSon.nets/Losing L'una. Dedicated to Simone Weil and to embodied knowing, V explores configuration vs. sequence, time-based vs. fixed access, and alphabetic vs. diagrammatic display in its evocation of histories of knowing from the Ice to the Information Age. The play-read process in the poem is an iterative one. Iterated returns overwhelm individual differences in sampling.
Author description: V: Vniverse is a textual instrument for exploring a sequence of poems that also appear in a double invertible book. Navigation/performance possibilities provide a micro-texture of interplay between patterns and their activation, both within the alphabetic forms and in relation to the diagrammed constellations. Programmed all in its original frame, the piece gives the illusion of words moving directly in and out of the sky. Thus all the time resources of the piece go toward responsiveness and production of language, rather than visual display. Here space is fashioned to amplify the sense of resonance that internal timings create.
Instructions:V: Vniverse can be explored by number or touch (the lower left X gives access to instructions). Entering a number in the upper right circle releases a keyword and a poem tercet. Alternatively, a variety of hand gestures interrupt ordinary surfing to distinct effect: mousing in a sweep over the screen, holding the mouse over a star, single-clicking to stabilize a constellation, double-clicking to release larger text units, clicking again to toggle between Son.nets and sets of tercets. Clicking NEXT activates many implicit time-scales. A text-decay process takes place that allows the time of break-up, the time of emergence, and the time of cross-layer existence between dissolving and emerging text to co-exist with the time of reading forward in the same constellation. Any text display may be made richer by simultaneously sweeping the mouse across the screen. V: Vniverse requires the Shockwave player. If V: Vniverse does not play on your system, download the full-screen or non-full-screen standalone version, best viewed at a screen resolution of 1024x768. Once downloaded, double-click to launch and press Escape to quit. The authors intend V: Vniverse to be viewed full-screen.
Previous publication:V: Vniverse first appeared in The Iowa Review Web in September 2002 simultaneously with the publication of V: WaveSon.nets/Losing L'una (Penguin). It can be found online at vniverse.com
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
