The Cut-Up Method of Brion Gysin by William S. Burroughs
Immediately, I was drawn into the passage by the first line. As silly as it sounds, I have never thought of creating a poem by pulling words out of a hat. In school, we were always taught to draft things beforehand which meant that careful planning and thought had to be involved to create a great piece. On the other hand, simply pulling random words goes against this process, but is a very refreshing, experimental idea. While I have seen many poems like this, I have never done it myself because I’m scared of being restricted. What if there is no word in the hat that will be able to describe what I’m feeling or trying to describe? Nonetheless, I think this is a great idea and is a good way to get people engaged in a new activity. As mentioned in the passage, the cut-up method can be applied to other subjects such as games and economic behavior. I think this proves that anyone can get their hands on something new. You don’t have to be good at writing to write a poem or good at gaming to game. I also feel like Burroughs is telling us that the cut-up method is just another way of getting inspiration from other artists and even reworking those pieces. For example, for my final project for the class, I was inspired by the I SPY books of Walter Wick. Perhaps I will take different elements from each book of the series to incorporate into my game.
In Free Fall: A Thought Experiment on Vertical Perspective by Hito Steyerl
Steyerl brings up an interesting perspective, or perhaps attention to a lack of one. How do we see things, in free fall in particular? The horizon line has been used as the point of reference for the longest, but Steyerl argues that it is not stable and things are changing with technology and time. In art, the perspective has never been consistent, especially in contemporary abstract works today. In the first place, I think having one perspective only is silly. Even with resources such as Google maps, I don’t think there is a clear line of where the viewer has to be. The viewer, in fact, is given options. They can choose to view the map in 2D or 3D, and in street view, they can drag their mouse for a whole 360-degree experience. A linear perspective can be restricting. The ideas Steyerl brings will be useful in incorporating into my game to make the setting and layout more attractive for the player experience.