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Donna Leishman |
Jason Nelson |
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Donna, will your future work continue to mine folkloric and historic themes? Can you say something about your current projects?Yes. By the end of my PhD I came to realize how important folkloric subject matter was to me. I passionately believe that the ever-evolving narrative nature of the field has much to offer society, especially when teamed up with contemporary technologies, contexts, and the mass distribution opportunities that the web offers.  I have plans to develop an online version of an exhibition piece called "Matryoshka: Revisiting Rosebud." The first Matryoshka, or nesting dolls, appeared in Russia around 1900. The toy dolls were traditionally carved and painted to look like animals or people and have in recent years become a symbol of Russian culture, often depicting fairy tales or even Russian presidents and their predecessors. The exhibition dolls were an examination of how physical interaction can be used as metaphor in perceiving historical objects and narratives. Traditionally, Rosebud the Sleeping Beauty lies encased in an impenetrable forest, the victim of a malicious spell. This tale, re-imagined, transplants the thicket of thorns with ornate fleurons and burrs; the evil spell is exchanged for Rosebud's self-imposed hiding and the journey to free her for a proposition—whereby the viewer must take on the role of the prince, who instead of wielding the axe opens up the various doll layers, peeling back her cosmetic forest to finally catch sight of the modern-day Rosebud within.  I have also storyboarded a narrative based on the Benandanti agrarian Italian cult. Benandanti, a term roughly translated as "good walkers," "those who go well," or "good-doers," were participants in the lingering remnants of an ancient agrarian cult in northern Italy. It came to the attention of Inquisitors in the late 16th century because of the cult's nocturnal battles with witches over the fertility of the crops and livestock. As always, I'm also looking for a new narrative for projects. |
Interview QuestionsBiographical BackgroundReception | Role of the ReaderInterfaceWork ProcessElectronic Literature CommunityFuture WorkSecretsSpace | StateConnect Digital | MaterialGamesPotentials of the FieldEssaysThe Artists on Each Other's WorkTalan Memmott's Commentary on Each ArtistLaunch the ArtworksDeviantLeishman SitePandemic RoomsNelson IndexBiographical InformationStephanie StricklandMajorie Coverley LuesebrinkDonna LeishmanJason NelsonTalan Memmott |
Jason, you've expressed interest in sound-to-text poetics, and you've said that mobile devices are catching your eye, as well as that you would like to use a theremin as an input device to replace the mouse. Can you say more about where you feel your work might go in the future?I always say that each work, each slung out, painted corners and melted centers digital whatnot that I create is my last. Each time I finish something, I say to myself, "That is the last thing I will ever create." Maybe it is the teen angst melancholy, or the series of final go-rounds, the last breath or warm cookie that makes me determined to create just one more. As I've mentioned before, "this new, new, new" is destructive, cars rolling brakeless in Boulder, Colorado, in early January, just outside town, a convertible driver catching the guard rail before the pines. Therefore, I am still interested in creating as I do now, in building works with oddball interfaces and quirky subjects, being satisfied with small audiences and eclectic venues. Yes, yes I do have some projects that I am interested in. But, as my work might signal, my imagination is leaky, hundreds of small punctures, never sure which hole will break into a brief (or extended) torrent. With that in mind here are some ideas both for themes and general fantasies and curious future roads: Mascots: I've mined for Mascots, gathered images, researched histories, and now want to build scattered stories around the lives of mascots. I want to title it MASCOT, but I'm afraid the search engines will boost it to the top of mascot searches and the manufacturers will see what I've done with stolen images. I can read the letter in my head: please remove...we do not condone giving lives to costumes.... Disaster: (I can see a trend in my work. Let's call it "dark and zany" or the zany darkness.) I am fascinated with the way humans struggle with natural forces, and how those forces are not disaster. Rather, it is the buildings and humans in the way of those forces that are the disaster. So I can see the broad coverage of little vignettes about what happens right before disaster, those moments before an unexpected disaster.  From The Bomar Gene Theremin: I think, and let me emphasize think, that a digital (midi) theremin can be coaxed into acting as an input device (mouse) and then be shoved into a gallery space. The user/reader would have to use sweeping movements to alter the screen space. Performance, body, and all that other trendy crap. I really just want to figure it out. I love figuring things out. OK...so maybe it's "figuring out the zany darkness." Gizmo: My grandfather's last word was "Gizmos." His last sentence: Don't hook me up to any Gizmos. Choking up a bit now. I love my grandfather. Arcticacre: I've just started a fiction, character study project where I reveal the lives of a group of siblings (the arcticacres) through their posts in forums, and on reviews and other user input spaces on the web. Then the user/reader/player searches for either the term arcticacre or more specifically "joe arcticacre" etc. to read the stories. This is tricky, as who the hell knows what the search engines will pick up, and which sites archive, and all that. Plus I have to learn to write in each of their voices. I've written some and will write more eventually. So, search away if you want. We'll see how it goes. GPS: I really want to play with locative fiction. But I haven't felt like traveling much lately so not sure how that will go yet. I should stop here, actually, as writing this list popped four new (not listed here) ideas into my head. |
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