THE CYBORG WRITES CODE
Cyberwriting sometimes includes linguistic experimentation: we have
already seen how animation allows for experimentation with the formation
and deformation of language. But computer writers have also negotiated
the interface between ordinary language and code language in what is
known as ‘codework’ (Raley 2003). Sometimes, as in Mark Amerika’s work
Filmtext (2003), this means making the use of computer code overt in the
piece; sometimes it involves mixing code and ordinary language. Such
a mixture is particularly pronounced in the work of mez. Her language
is poetic in that it engages with puns, anagrams, neologisms, unusual
spellings and constructed words, created by a mixture of code and ordinary
language. Mez uses ‘found’ texts on the Internet, such as email dialogues
and network exchanges, then ‘mangles’ them with computer-programming
languages. She makes extensive use of the full stop—or domain separators
as in a web address—sometimes to dissect familiar words into parts. She
also employs brackets, slashes and hyphens, and numbers and symbols
instead of letters. Mez’s experiments have a great deal in common with the
linguistically innovative/language poetries we explored in Chapter 8, but
take on the world of computer programming. This produces a hybrid lan-
guage which incorporates programming language, network protocols, and
mark-up code: mez describes it as ‘m[ez]ang.elle’. Her work defamiliarises
and interrupts contemporary modes of transmitting information and
communication. In an (email) interview mez was asked how she would
describe her own work. She replied in ‘mezangelle’, afterwards providing a
translation. Here are the two versions:
Example 11.2
::N 1 Word: mezangelled
::N 1 Sentence: the con[nned]flagration B-tween m-mage N text[ual]/
sound N
fr[ott]ag[e].mentation ov breath/lec.tron.ics N flesh
::In Many Wordz: Eye make sever.all versionz of [intra]net
[worked].art,
each 1 par.tic[k].ular 2 mi conceptual n-tent m-bedded within
you.knitz/
phone.tick-tock snippettes... labellez/cat.e.gori[cal]es that
somehow get
shrinkwordwrapped ah-round my stuph alwaze zeem som[a]how
n-adequate...Her translation of this was:
248 The Writing Experiment