International Festival
of Computer Arts

Using Composition to Re-Present Personal Collections of Hypersigns

Project

Using Composition to Re-Present Personal Collections of Hypersigns

  • 11th MFRU
  • Article
Authors Andruid Kerne, J. Michael Mistrot, Madhur Khandelwal, Vikram Sundaram, Eunyee Koh, Interface Ecology Lab
Using Composition to Re-Present Personal Collections of Hypersigns

The hyperlink is structurally amenable to semiotic analysis. Anchor and destination function as signifier and signified. Especially significant are digital surrogates, such as Amazon catalogue entries, and Google gists. These are systematically produced hypertextual signifier-signified pairings. This paper develops a new semiotic operand, the hypersign, emphasizing the role of hyperlinked surrogates in information age communication. We consider work by art theorist John Berger, installation artist Hanne Darboven, and hip-hop DJ Spooky, while theorizing about transformational forms for personal hypersign collections. We provide an architectural overview of combinFormation, a mixedinitiative tool for using composition to re-present personal collections of hypersigns. combinFormation interjects personal speech, or syntagm, into the process of collecting information resources. We illustrate the use of combinFormation by developing a navigable composition of hypersigns based on the source materials of this paper. The result is a form of recombinant information, in which visual bookmarks are transformed through remix/assemblage, creating new meanings. Like the work of Darboven and Spooky, the resulting form interjects a personal sense into the experience of reproductions. In doing so, it recasts Benjamin's aura of the original through a postmodern process of personal collection. By connecting theory and practice through information artifacts, and concurrently remixing methodologies, this paper+composition functions as an interface ecosystem.