An Infinite Variety of Similar Things

[excerpted from introduction and project synopsis of IVOST prototype book:]

Atlanta-based poet and writer JS van Buskirk is (as Stephanie Paulk) a graduate of Columbia University and Emory Law School. She frequently performs with the Atlanta Poets Group (http://www.atlantapoetsgroup.net) and runs a bi-monthly series of lecture/performance events called INFO DEMO. Her work is organized and promulgated through her website and weblog (http://www.jsassociate.com).

The Infinite Variety of Similar Things were initially conceived of as part of an Atlanta Poets Group performance inspired by John Cage’s Indeterminacy. The poems are one minute long when read aloud, and each is an arbitrary excerpt from a theoretically infinite thought process or preoccupation. The first iteration of the Infinite Variety of Similar Things is now complete with 60 poems: an hour’s worth of a theoretically infinite assortment of preoccupations. They are abstract, lovely, melancholy, silly, banal- encompassing the scope of private thought. Each poem has a key line repeating throughout, representing the recursive and repetitive nature of mental preoccupation.

Soon after JS embarked on the IVOST series, she and Ms. Püttgen realized that the IVOST poems and the Internet Mandala process would each greatly benefit the other in a collaborative project. Ms. Püttgen has created Internet Mandalas from the key lines of each of the poems. Thus, the image associated with each poem is essentially a translation of the poem’s key line into visual terms.

There exists a strong sympathetic resonance between the poems- texts presenting private and internal consciousness; and the mandalas- collages of images generated out of the collective consciousness of the internet from the text of the poem. The internal and the collective share an equally great range of tone and content. Arbitrary, comical and heartbreaking elements appear unexpectedly in trains of thought and in search results. Some of the mandalas in the IVOST clearly reveal their connection to the text, while others stand in peculiar and even startling contrast to their source. Ultimately, the IVOST pairings demonstrate the connections, tenuous or abrupt, that occur in the mind and in the internet alike.

For sample text-image pairings from the IVOST prototype book, click here to go to pages on JS van Buskirk's JS Associate website.


		An Infinite Variety of Similar Things
		(with JS van Buskirk)

		[excerpted from introduction and project synopsis of IVOST prototype book:] Atlanta-based poet and writer JS van Buskirk is (as Stephanie Paulk) a graduate of Columbia University and Emory Law School. She frequently performs with the Atlanta Poets Group (http://www.atlantapoetsgroup.net) and runs a bi-monthly series of lecture/performance events called INFO DEMO. Her work is organized and promulgated through her website and weblog (http://www.jsassociate.com). The Infinite Variety of Similar Things were initially conceived of as part of an Atlanta Poets Group performance inspired by John Cage’s Indeterminacy. The poems are one minute long when read aloud, and each is an arbitrary excerpt from a theoretically infinite thought process or preoccupation. The first iteration of the Infinite Variety of Similar Things is now complete with 60 poems: an hour’s worth of a theoretically infinite assortment of preoccupations. They are abstract, lovely, melancholy, silly, banal- encompassing the scope of private thought. Each poem has a key line repeating throughout, representing the recursive and repetitive nature of mental preoccupation. Soon after JS embarked on the IVOST series, she and Ms. Püttgen realized that the IVOST poems and the Internet Mandala process would each greatly benefit the other in a collaborative project. Ms. Püttgen has created Internet Mandalas from the key lines of each of the poems. Thus, the image associated with each poem is essentially a translation of the poem’s key line into visual terms. There exists a strong sympathetic resonance between the poems- texts presenting private and internal consciousness; and the mandalas- collages of images generated out of the collective consciousness of the internet from the text of the poem. The internal and the collective share an equally great range of tone and content. Arbitrary, comical and heartbreaking elements appear unexpectedly in trains of thought and in search results. Some of the mandalas in the IVOST clearly reveal their connection to the text, while others stand in peculiar and even startling contrast to their source. Ultimately, the IVOST pairings demonstrate the connections, tenuous or abrupt, that occur in the mind and in the internet alike. For sample text-image pairings from the IVOST prototype book, click here to go to pages on JS van Buskirk's JS Associate website.