Performance in Digital Poetry

With origins in the avant-garde movement of the first half of twentieth century, digital poetry extends the creative repertoire of this experimental poetry tradition using computers in the composition, generation, or presentation of texts. If in Italian Futurist poetry performance engages with the traditional conventions such as spatial distribution of elements on page that make the work a poem, in digital poetry performance becomes part of poetry making. Computer programming turns such poetry into interactive sites of encounter between authors, texts, and readers. In so doing, it invites speculation about the nature of poetry and generates debates on how digital spaces represent places where these identities meet, interact, and overlap. Moreover, the aspect of performance as spectacle and of digital poetry as scripted performance in particular, emphasizes a symbiotic relationship between digital poetry and its readers. This talk will approach performance through the lens of three interrelated aspects: as a technique of digital poetry creation; as spectacle; and as representation of cultural intersections. Theoretical considerations drawn from the work of Gianni Toti, Caterina Davinio, and Loss Pequeno Glazier will frame more general discussion of the poetry.