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Séa.nce
is a 'pataphysical experiment to demonstrate the relays of perpetual emotion
on the internet. It is part of a larger project, The
Perpetual Emotion Project, which researches emotion in digital
culture.
In the 19th century Etienne-Jules
Marey, Henri Bergson, Arsène d'Arsonoval and Marie Curie met to
investigate "the manifestations of yet undefined forces" through
scientific investigations using Marey's graphing instruments. These investigations
attempted to measure radioactivity and electric discharge of hysterics;
to study telepathy and levitation; and to hold Seances.
Séa.nce, following
these earlier experiments, is also based on the popular parlour game from
the 19th century. The original Ouija Board was known as the Talking Board
or the Message Board where one would search for answers from the spirit
world. The modern equivalent of this 'searching for answers' could be
imagined as Google or any search engine for that matter. Are there 'unknown
forces' still at play? What happens when answers depend on a network of
movement?
The Language of
the Board
There are more than 20 different languages used in the current version
of Séa.nce. The languages were chosen by chance and availability
rather than for any linguistic significance. The Séa.nce Board
uses the Roman-Latin alphabet, which has 26 letters. This is not the case
for many of the other languages that were recorded. Vietnamese, for example,
has 29 letters, Russian has 33 and Swedish has 29. Graphically too there
are many differences in the way letters are written. After some discussion
we decided to continue to use the Roman-Latin alphabet graphically on
the Board, following the original Ouija Boards. We mapped the spoken letters
to numbers in the chronological order that they were recorded. So the
"A" you see on the Board is number 1 letter of every alphabet
etc. Letters 27 onwards are randomly mapped on top of letters 1 - 26 (A-Z
on the Board).
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