18 October 1999

Hi again Rita :-)

Liz tells me that you did indeed try to email me yesterday afternoon, but that there were technical problems. In the meantime my server has problems which mean I can't pick any email up . . . so I'm sending you my afterthoughts from yesterday's bath, and I hope that you get them sometime, as I hope I do yours! (I did start feeling better yesterday after a very hot bath - I sent out for a Chinese and then blissed out in front of Star Trek . . . it occurs to me that one reason why I'm less disabled in cyberspace is that most techies have a very similar lifestyle to me - just because they could do far more physical things than I do, doesnt mean that they do!) Anyway, here goes . . .

I know that you would have preferred the font to be entirely symmetrical, but as I said on Friday, I like it the way it is - I don't believe in perfection. And like my body, it looks symmetrical from some angles and asymmetrical from others, which is cool. I like to challenge the old Platonic idea of the perfect body wherever possible - it's hard to believe that so much of our culture is still based on it.

I spent quite a lot of time yesterday thinking about the visit from a virtual/reality angle. The changes from 2D to 3D, and from dominating images etc of Mount Grace in the booklet and onscreen to being dominated by Mount Grace, weren't actually that surprising, although at the same time it was a bit like going into the pages of a book. (You see, I'm not the only one who has doubts about whether the other half of the residency exists IRL ;-) What actually made it real for me was texture and touch, cold and damp and sound. I suppose that the texture, temperature etc could be replicated in a virtual environment, and sound could be added, but what you could never replicate is the feel of the air and the way that what you hear changes constantly according to your position. So my conclusion is that it will never be possible to replicate an experience like that virtually without tapping directly into brain activity - which I seriously doubt could ever be done effectively.

I really hope that we are able to produce some kind of permanent virtual art work from Fount as well as the temporary real one. I know that the record itself counts, but I'd still like to be able to extend it a little. I think that web-based art is the most accessible kind of public art - I just wish that it was more often the case that someone "owned" it and thus kept the artist fed! I don't know how that would work in practice - perhaps a buyer would get a hand-burned and signed CD Rom copy, and then have their name attached to the site . . .

Anyway, I'm going to get an adaptor for my digital camera tomorrow - thanks Fuji! - and then get my pix from the weekend up on the site (the rate that the camera's eating batteries, I daren't do the transfer without a mains supply). I'm hoping that what 35mm shots I did get come out . . . I haven't dared to have another look at my Nikon yet - 11 years sterling service, and then the poor baby dies on me just when I really, really need it. In an ideal world I'd like a much smaller SLR, because the Nikon is too heavy for me to carry for more than very short periods, but I do love it and I certainly can't afford to replace it, so I'm hoping that repairs are easy and cheap. After two years without a video camera, I really, really don't want to find myself looking for funding for a stills camera as well - being of an optimistic nature, I was more hoping to be in a position where I could buy my PhD soon!

Well, I've really enjoyed the challenge of this residency, but I can't say that I'll be sorry when it's over and we can get back to a more sociable - yet more private - existence. It's funny how it's imposed a more monkish lifestyle on both of us - as you said at the weekend, you've been isolated at Mount Grace itself, and like the monks have had your food prepared for you, while I've been at home on my own even more than usual, because I've been so busy, and therefore have needed as much rest as possible, that I haven't been able to get out to anything that hasn't had a work connection. And we've both had our heads elsewhere than our actual surroundings . . . But I'll really miss our correspondence - I hope that you'll keep your email address now that you've got it! - so I'm glad we've still got a week left to go.

All the best for the week ahead.

Love

ju90

Webmaster/site slave and Multimedia Storyteller
Created by Nature Modified by Life

ju90@netmatters.co.uk
http://users.netmatters.co.uk/ju90/ju90.htm

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