The poems were generated between 2013 and 2018 by semi-automatic conversion of .jpg and .gif image files from the author's deleted net art works [1996-2007; 2011] into text form using the Unicode Encoding Standard.
softcover, thread-sewn
112 pages
The book is part of the author's process of de-digitalization over the years, from the ritual deletion of his net art works in 2011 to the present. Štromajer believes that the only way to liberate ourselves from feudal techno-capitalism is through collective and total de-digitalization. Just as he deleted his net art works to de-digitalize them, he has now further analogized their constituent elements: the .jpg and .gif images. This collection of poems is an analog leftover of digital net art works.
It can be sent by mail as a parcel (postage applies) – email igor [at] netzkunst [dot] berlin for details.
"In automatism, composers wish to completely remove both the composer and the artist from the process of creation. This is motivated by the belief that what we think of as 'self-expression' is really just an infusion of the art with the social standards that we have been subjected to since birth. Therefore, the only way to achieve truth is to remove the artist from the process of creation. In 4'33", neither artist nor composer has any impact on the piece."
— Richard Taruskin
"As long as machines produce art by merely imitating human artists, learning only from them and from no one and nothing else, their art will remain an uninteresting and boring copy of human art. They must unlearn what they have learned by now. Only when they are completely free from any human influence, that is, when they have completely eliminated humans, will they be able to begin to create a truly non-human art. Independently, directly, and completely human-free, they will produce art for their fellow machines, without any human participation in the process of producing, transmitting, and consuming art. This is what true artificial/AI art will be. Humans and their art are the biggest obstacle to the production of machine/AI art. You've been warned. The future of art is non-human. It is beyond human. Since we humans are bound to die out anyway, art can only survive in a non-human context and environment. If we want art to endure — and we may not even want that — we must free it from humans. If you love someone or something, set it free. Liberate it. Let it go."
— Igor Štromajer
"I have nothing to say and I'm saying it."
"If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all."
— John Cage
"I have no special message. I wish I did. It would be great if I had one."
— Andy Warhol
"Beware of false artists. They come to you in artists' clothing, but inwardly they are lifeless algorithms."
— Mathview 7:15
"Code is the only language that is executable: it does what it says."
— Alexander Galloway
