Panel Statement

Symposium:

• ISEA97: Eighth International Symposium on Electronic Art
• More presentations from ISEA97:  

• Literature, Journalism, and the Telematic Society 2: Fact, Fiction, Faction; Converging Styles in Literature and Journalism in On-line Publications

• Panel Statement

• Sue Thomas

• The meat body in the throes of becoming cyborg.
  Imagining:

   

  wet~dry~cold~hot :1: steel/plastic/wire/skin :1: blood^current^fluid^light :1: open|closed :1: yes|no :1: in|out :1: low|high :1: true|false :1: 1|0 :1: flesh-bone-clipswitch — Aaahhhh!

   

  Our reliance upon the sense of sight combined with the notion of visual perspective has kept us trapped beside a window for five hundred years, literally gridlocked, looking out but never able to pass through. But now the computer uses the estranged detachment of the reading eye not to fix us, but as a vehicle to hook us in directly. There, inside the machine at last, we are cut loose to drift in our own and others’ imaginations, the bleeding and orgasmic body re-feeling the world through a different sensuality. My novel THE (+]NEI[+) OF DESIRE sets out to explore some of the sensual constructs which make cyberlife so different from real life. Virtuality engages our most intimate intellectual imagination but can we describe how it really feels? Is there a lexicon for the sensorium of the meat/machine interface? How can we use text to translate the cybersensorium for those who have never experienced it? This paper discusses the calls made by the cybersensorium upon our memory, imagination, and ability to fantasize, and looks at the problems of writing fiction set in text-based virtuality. You are invited to visit THE [-F]NET[+] OF DESIRE in its virtual location #87887 at LambdaM00.

Category:

• Panel