Modular Form as a Curatorial Practice

This article discusses a curatorial approach to authorship as a model for thinking about what I describe as an iterative modular poem, a poetic text composed of appropriated segments. As a response to contemporary proliferation of literary and artistic works created by iterative means, i.e. through acts of appropriation, remixing and remediation, the article is an attempt at putting forward ‘the curatorial’ as an emerging paradigm of writing for the twenty-first century. The article approaches established paradigms of authorship, creativity and originality as inadequate with respect to contemporary experimental poetic practices to suggest a shift from creating to collecting and curating as a possible alternative model for thinking about instances of iterative creative writing. The argument focuses on Robert Fitterman’s Holocaust Museum (2011) as an example of an iterative modular poem and a text emblematic of such curatorial approach to authorship

Acceleration of Zn(II) Electroreduction by Thiourea and Dialkylderivatives of Thiourea at the Hg Electrode in Water + Ethanol Mixtures

The influence of thiourea (TU) and dialkylderivatives of thiourea: N,N-dimethyl-(DMTU), N,N-diethyl-(DETU) and N,N-dibuthyl- thiourea-(DBTU) on the electroreduction of Zn (II) was studied in water + ethanol 98% vol. + NaClO4 mixtures. The results obtained are discussed taking into account TU, DMTU, DETU, DBTU adsorption on the electrode surface as well as the possibility of formation of an active complex by a metal ion with TU and dialkylderivatives. The results suggest that the complex structure plays the dominant role of the electrode process acceleration

The Iterative turn

This thesis investigates the implications of the increasingly prominent propensity to copy as a creative practice in contemporary culture. While debates about plagiarism, copyright infringement, and the state of copyright inform this project, the focus here is on broader issues. The argument is formulated as an attempt at defining a cultural condition that triggers novel attitudes to creativity in order to explore the possibilities of a reconceptualisation of copying as a creative category. The aesthetic tendencies identified in this project are presented as heavily influenced by the emergence of new technologies. But the thesis is not an analysis of the twenty-first century new media culture. Instead, the contemporary technological moment is discussed as a condition of postproduction, in an attempt to devise a historical and critical framework that goes beyond questions of the intersection of creativity and technology. By doing so, this project strives to interrogate the restrictions and inadequacies of the dominant categories of originality, creativity, and authorship, in legal and creative terms, to propose the notion of iteration as a possible alternative. Practices of copying are represented as a necessary condition of contemporary culture and a manifestation of a shift in aesthetics, here defined as the Iterative turn. Chapter 1 formulates a critical framework for discussing iteration and positions the contemporary Iterative turn in relation to developments in the visual arts, literature, publishing, and law. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 offer a discussion of representative approaches to contemporary iterative writing and possible ways of conceptualising the means by which they engage with notions of originality, creativity, and authorship. While the focus here is first and foremost on literary texts, extensive references are made to the arts broadly conceived: the media and media theory, philosophy, literary and art theory, as well as case law and critical legal studies, to arrive at a more comprehensive formulation of the aesthetics of iteration for the emergent cultural condition. In its attempt to think about the contemporary, the thesis posits a framework for looking beyond the established paradigms of writing

Człowiek i choroba: walka utrwalona w słowie

In the article, the author discusses the relationship that refers to people and illness that is recorded in various language data. Based on folk material, the author recalls, above all, folk magic formulas, called “orders”. The magical healing ritual is perceived as a whole, in which the word accompanies certain activities taking place at a given time and place, using specific attributes. In a very specific existential situation, which is illness, the most basic mechanisms of thinking about the reality are revealed. Hence, the healing ritual reveals perceptions and judgements referring to illness, based on one’s own body experiences. These judgements can be observed through specific materialization obtained through the language/text manifested in a specific executive situation. The analysis of linguistic/text data allows one to discover the significance of performed actions in the process of magical healing, as these actions complement the word. They are also strongly associated with beliefs about illness in general and they constitute a characteristic testimony of human struggle with illnessW artykule omawiam utrwaloną w różnorodnych danych językowych relację, która dotyczy człowieka i choroby. Bazuję na materiale folklorowym, przywołuję przede wszystkim ludowe formuły magiczne, zwane zamówieniami. Magiczny rytuał leczniczy postrzegam jako całość, w której słowo współtowarzyszy określonym czynnościom, odbywającym się w wyznaczonym czasie, w wyznaczonym miejscu, przy zastosowaniu określonych atrybutów. W bardzo specyficznej sytuacji egzystencjalnej, jaką jest choroba, ujawniają się najbardziej elementarne mechanizmy myślenia o rzeczywistości, stąd też rytuał leczniczy ukazuje oparte na własnym doświadczaniu ciała wyobrażenia i sądy dotyczące choroby. Sądy te można obserwować dzięki swoistej materializacji, jaką uzyskują za pośrednictwem języka/tekstu objawiającego się w konkretnej sytuacji wykonawczej. Analiza danych językowych/tekstowych pozwala na odkrycie właściwego sensu czynności wykonywanych w procesie magicznego uzdrawiania; działania te stanowią dopełnienie słowa, są też silnie powiązane z wierzeniami na temat choroby w ogóle i stanowią charakterystyczne świadectwo walki człowieka z chorob