Summer came and left, and we are still here. I just came back from Granada, Spain, where I participated in CULTUR_ALH: encuentro internacional de cultural literaria de la Alhambra, the most incredible literary festival (of my life!). I had the opportunity to teach a beautiful workshop on digital literature and, together with my collaborator, Mario Santamaría, perform our latest work, Traceroute Poems, segundo viaje, a site-specific reading of poems dedicated to the fibre optic cables (and other energy flows) connecting us to the Alhambra and the sunset.
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I’ve been up to some other interesting things, but let’s highlight this summer’s 25th year anniversary celebrations of my beloved ELO, where I participated with a paper on the evils of crypto:
Crytopoetry Avant la Lettre: A Reading of Belen Gache’s Word Market:
“This presentation examines Belén Gache’s Word Market (2012) as a prescient critique of cryptopoetry. Predating NFTs by two years, Word Market is an interactive web portal simulating a market exchange where users trade words using a fictional currency: the “wollar.” Unlike blockchain-based digital poetry, where value is tied to monetary worth, Word Market employs a parodic algorithm to question the arbitrary valuation of online economies, toying with the wrong assumption of human language as being detached from material reality. While not an NFT, Word Market anticipates their emergence, exposing the global interconnectedness of localized “blockchain” processes and their material repercussions. Ultimately, this work underscores how digital literary works and economies influence both local and global contexts, reflecting on their broader material implications.”
More soon!
Alex