Alison Knowles, The House of Dust, 1970. Courtesy Alison Knowles and James Fuentes, NY.
This project is based on The House of Dust by Alison Knowles.
The House of Dust is a poetry project created by Alison Knowles and James Tenney and the Siemens 4004 computer in 1967 using fortran language. An early example of a computer generated poem, creating stanzas by working through iterations of lines with changing words from a finite vocabulary list. An early example of computerised poetry that plays on the unlimited possibilities of the random juxtapositions of words. To create this work, Knowles produced four word lists that were then translated into a computer language and organised into quatrains according to a random matrix. Each of the four lists contains terms that describe the attributes of a house: its materials, location, lighting, and inhabitants. The computer program imposed a non-rational ordering of subjects and ideas, generating unexpectedly humorous phrasing and imagery.
A HOUSE OF FABRIC
HUNG ON A BUS STOP
USING NATURAL LIGHT
INHABITED BY PEOPLE WAITING
I developped this project with the idea of a roof / a shelter, translated into a cone shaped volume to symbolize the house.
A HOUSE OF FABRIC
IN AN UNDERGROUND PARKING LOT
USING ARTIFICIAL LIGHT
INHABITED BY PEOPLE WHO DRIVE
