Code Comments

Coming to the end of the first two development projects, my energy is dipping. New pressures for dissertation research are rising, the time spent in lockdown is becoming increasingly glassy, viscous, heavily saturated with screens. I have been taking time off to meditate / nap most days, as well as doing journalling around what I wanted to say with labyr.in/th/. As a result I have added further comments to the labyr.in/th/ source code, all rather poetic, idiosyncratic, playful.

Trawling through CyberSpace, I linked in to a Space Bar
All the Surf Clubs had closed :(
I found a melancholy lofi playlist abandoned in a corner,
left in an ashtray of "you might also like" dust,
any flame in the links long since extinguished.

Once it was fun, an old review said.
But then nobody had any body to be with
Everything was individual.
Nobody minded - they were already elsewhere,
No thoughts,
Head empty.

ㅡkeyboard.html

Our detached nature after spending too much time online is particularly interesting to me, as I have experienced many different forms of it. It’s hard to be aware of, as the internet so often plays the role of distracting us; I find it easier to notice when I have a recent experience of meditation to contrast it with. I attended a net art SPARKS talk, a collaboration between many older, original net artists. They discussed how important it was that their work was community driven, how much knowledge they shared collectively through community interactions.

To me, that community is largely of the past, or at least I see most modern web projects as being much more individual (perhaps a consequence of our individual web 2.0). I haven’t found any internet art Discord groups. There is a Discord server called badUIbattles which I’ve joined, it looks like it has a dozen occasionally active members. There are countless individuals who have created quirky web projects, playing with the medium, but they are disjointed. The forum for academic discussion regarding the web, for sharing ideas, exploring, challenging each others perceptions, seems to be limited to a few small twitter circles (stumbled upon accidentally), private course group chats, obtuse mailing lists, and the occasional academic journal post. I haven’t explored IRC yet, maybe there is something there?

Anyway, I feel there is a possibility for a new Discord group or online forum. As such, I will be hiding Discord invite links to a discussion forum throughout my labyrinth source code. It’s hard to say whether the philosophy of the group will tend playful or serious, I’d like it to be a place that can hold the lightness and openmindedness of exploration with the diligence of critical scrutiny. Community is community however, we’ll have to see if anyone is interested first.

Silence vs Conceptual Thought

I originally created labyr.in/th/ as a mindfulness experiment, it later pivoted to become an entertaining interactive web puzzle (as fitting the course requirements to create an interactive installation piece). I see that there are many ways to observe and interact with art online, some of which hold a space of reflection, as advocated by Wayne Dunkley, others more attuned to goal oriented tasks, or entertainment distraction. I consider that my creation is largely empty; empty because of how basic and shallow it is, with every interaction described by my indicators in the most minimal style possible, a balance between usability for someone new to the site and the purity of a browser based “interaction”.

To juxtapose this, the source code is highly conceptual, meaning and intention sporadically scattered between practical requirements. How the comments from the first week of coding mix without distinction with comments from this final week of the project is particularly interesting, a space of optimism and openness meshed with resolute conclusions. Frequently using JavaScript classes was especially important; to create and label concepts, recognising their illusionary nature, fits well with the Zen Buddhist perspective on the nature of reality. As the Keyboard I create is illusionary, so is the keyboard I am typing on - a label I have applied to a collection of plastic materials and metals, a seperation I have made to distinguish aspects of the universe.

I wrote the following conclusion at the root directory of labyr.in/, only accessible via reading the GitHub source code or downloading the webpage through the command line. This conclusion contradicts older source code comments to return my project to its original focus of mindfulness. I now see labyr.in/th/ as a personal labyrinth; I have walked from the entrance of presence to a center of conceptual thought, I now return to the entrance of presence again.

The goal of this website is not to reach the center.html,
nor to return from the center.html to the entrance.html.

Your task is to be aware of the journey.
I offer you no experience other than direct experience itself,

An experience of our special, quirky internet unreality,
felt through the plastic of our keyboards, mice, touchscreens,
seen so directly to us, with such predictable cause and effect!

The performance of the internet is cheap,
but only as we are cheap spectators - clicking for quick fixes
see how weak your patience and frustrations are online

Do not demand ever brighter beauty,
accept the discomforts of the present,
perceive the beauty already there.

Take an opportunity to set aside your filters and expectations
stay with me, for a moment, in this space of passings