Some works leave to the machine the task of carrying out a part of the text
creation work, with the help of a data-based system put together by the
artist and a program allowing for the selective extraction of the data. The
computer then becomes partner to the creative process. These projects are
also based on chance, and on surprise, ingredient and effect ,contributing
to the sentence's poetic value, thanks to unsuspected combinations beyond
any participant's total control.
In the Feature section, Anne-Marie Boisvert mentions the experiments of the
Générateur littéraire created by Jean-Pierre Balpe. She also refers to the
cut-up technique invented by William Burroughs, put to use on the Web to
a similar end.
On the other hand, some artists are maintaining an ironic distance in their
projects in respect to this type of literary exploration. Such is the case,
for one, of Mario Hergueta, with Stop making sense. With the help of a
sentence-generating program geared at putting out sentences with or without
adjectives, this work ends up showing the limits of the machine's creating
potential.
Other combinatory-type works leave little choice to the visitor, and offer
an even more critical look on this type of exploration, such as roman by
Antoine Moreau, or in an even more extreme manner, Face Value by Nino
Rodriguez.
Works discussed more at length in the Magazine:
.Jean-Pierre Balpe, Générateur littéraire in the Feature on Electronic Literature.
.Mario Hergueta, Stop Making Sense
