Artist's Book Yearbook 2003-2005 - Book Arts - University of the ...

‘The computer ‘guesses’ at which word may be
being spoken, but each word is not taken in
isolation, the speech recognition engine has a
database of words which may occur in close
proximity, together with the probabilities of this
happening. The result then, is not quite a series
of random words, but of guesses taking into
account the chances of certain words coming
together. This of course is a culturally specific
database, and so seemingly meaningful phrases
occur quite frequently.’
Kemplen concludes, ‘Phrases such as “Amazon
vested illusion, fashioned fulsome person” and
“glistening home consumption commander”
are thrown up by the computer, programmed
to search for coherent juxtapositions of words,
using a lexicon reflecting society’s language use
at the end of the 20th century. The software
inadvertently critiques the society that spawned
it.’ 2
Left and below: The
Half-Muffled Clappers
Tony Kemplen, 1997
Here sound is reformed into language and
poetry is created by a technological process
which ‘echoes’ the text generating systems of
Oulipo. This technology was also used by Aaron
Williamson in Hearing Things (Book Works,
2001) where speech-recognition software
translated the noises from Williamson’s
performances into text. The Half-Muffled
35
Clappers has a sombre black frame on the cover
and pink paper inside. This simple structure,
two sheets of paper folded and stapled, has a
cheap, spontaneous look that references
pamphlets handed out in churches with text to
be read aloud, shifting it back into sound.
The Table Leaked It’s Object Tertia Longmire,
Magpie Press, 1998
The Table Leaks its Object by Tertia Longmire
(Magpie Press, 1998) documents different
social transcription. The title page/poem sets
out its contents:
‘transcriptions
from graffiti
found on
thirty
school examination desks
abandoned
in
south london
during
1996’
This book is printed on lined school paper and
stapled into a blue card cover like an exercise
book. Each page contains graffiti from one
desk. The justified text blocks have close line
spacing and little punctuation, visually
referencing claustrophobic school days and
class rooms. The 1970’s, ‘80s, and ‘90s are
intermixed with sex, pop star names, and exam
musing in equal measure, transcribed verbatim
into dense slang poetics.