Hypernomadic Textual Journeys

Gita Hashemi, 1998

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Hypernomadic Textual Journeys, 1998
Hypernomadic Textual Journeys, 1998

This piece is a lyrical reflection on the nature of space and time in "virtual space" and on the functions of pure text in "hypertext." It is an intensely intimate yet paradoxically formal engagement with the medium. At the time of its creation, 14.4 and 28.8 dial-up modems were the most common, and cyber-creators and cyber-wanderers were exploring the poetic potentials of non-linear text online. A key visual aspect of the piece is lost now because of the increased speed of data flow. In 1998, the thin blue that is embeded as a background image tiled slowly from the top to the bottom of the screen thus creating a visual transition between pages and marking the time of transmission. But that formal effect and the concepts it gestures to are invisible now, pointing to the ephemerality of the medium with their absence.

HyperNomadic Textual Journeys was exhibited in a number of online gatherings in 1998. In 2007, almost a decade after it was made, the online literary journal New Riveras included it in a special issue as a testament to its time. Now several generations in the past, this piece still beckons us to reflect the aesthetic neuances and conceptual implications of "the medium."