The title, (a grammar of signs has replaced a botany of symptoms), comes from Michel Foucault's The Birth of the Clinic, in which he charts a shift in the language surounding the perception and description of the human body which occured along with the advent of modern medicine. Hidden beneath layers of highly magnified and slowly animated images of plant cells are small narrative texts which, when clicked upon, reveal botanical observations of colour from the perception of a child. These textual offerings must be actively sought out - with no user interaction they will never be revealed. Upon clicking, no sooner are the texts exposed, then they are covered up again. This continuous process of regeneration illustrates paradox of the elusiveness of any grammar in the face of a relentless botany. "(a grammar of signs has replaced a botany of symptoms)" | |
J. R. Carpenter || bio || electronic literature || publications || talks || blog |