[ARENA] DAVID DANIELS' 200+HUMAN BEINGÈD HYMN TO HUMANITY is ready (DVD format)

[Regina Pinto]

 DAVID DANIELS' 200+HUMAN BEINGÈD HYMN TO HUMANITY

The American poet David Daniels (1933-2008) has always amazed me, not
only because of his kindness and wisdom but also the ingenuity with
which he crafted his shape poems with a computer program like “Word
for Windows.” It is impressive to note the quality/innovation of the
shapes he obtained with his texts/poems/animations using software that
was not designed for that purpose. Not only that, but the ease with
which he worked and played with the language is enviable. Reading and
observing his poems is always a process of rediscovery, because they
contain a dual semiotic system, one for writings and the other for
imagery.

I followed the creation of his 200 + Humans with a sense of
enchantment, thanks to the vast net that enables artists to exchange
experiences in an international context. This series is fascinating,
not only because of its undeniable artistic value but because of its
anthropological aspect. Daniels constructed his poems by asking many
different kinds of people from different countries some very simple
questions. As a result, these poems reveal similarities and
differences, while demonstrating what humans are like at the beginning
of the 21st century. I can’t help imagining what it would be like if
someone read these poems in the next century, and have fun imagining
that person’s (?) response.

It is also interesting to underscore that, mixed in with the human
beings mentioned in the previous paragraph, there are some familiar
famous figures, such as Shakespeare, Edith Piaf, Mozart, Marx, Charles
Dickens, Fernando Pessoa, Kafka, Freud and even Jesus, all of whom are
eternally human and recreated through Daniels’s imagination.

As a result, it is very moving to present the “Humans” series by David
Daniels, which I have produced in DVD format. This will be one more
way of attempting to preserve his Poems.

To know more browser at: http://arteonline.arq.br/humans/

CONTENT:

DVD 1 – to be inserted in a computer’s DVD drive.
> The Humans series in PDF format, exactly as Daniels produced it.
> The essay Lift up Your Heads, O Ye Gates, An Appreciation of David Daniels, by British author and critic Edward Picot ( http://hypererx.co.uk/  ).
> The interview with David Daniels ( http://www.thegatesofparadise.com ) that Jorge Luiz Antonio   ( http://www.vispo.com/misc/BrazilianDigitalPoetry.htm ) and I conducted in 2004.

DVD 2 – to be viewed on any DVD player
> A page for all the humans in the series, with sound and movement, a festival of colors and unusual shapes.


For now the DVD boxes will be sent to new media art archives and to
Daniel's family. However, If you are interested or if you are a
curator of a library or university archive, send a message to
arteonline.newsletter  gmail.com and I will contact you soon.

All the best,

Regina Célia Pinto