Transient Self-Portrait

Transient self–portrait is an artistic research project with the aim of creating an interactive piece.
I take as the point of departure two pivotal sonnets in Spanish literature that are normally studied
alongside each other, En tanto que de rosa y azucena by Garcilaso de La Vega, a 16th Century
Spanish poet, using Italian Renaissance verse forms and Mientras por competir con tu cabello by
Luís de Gongora, a 17th Century Spanish poet from the Baroque period. Gongora’s sonnet is a
homage to Garcilaso’s and the styles and the cultural aspects that appear on the sonnets are very
different reflecting the attitudes from the Renaissance and the Baroque.

This project is a response to some of the concepts that emerge from these sonnets; ephemerality of
life, consummation, transient entities, fragility, which are also relevant to our age and the electronic
world we inhabit. The creative process is that of producing, reflecting, programming and testing
the medium to explore these notions in an electronic media society of dialogues with self-images,
engaging the participant in a reading experience of ‘in’ and ‘out’ of language, via webcams and
interactive aesthetics. The sonnets pass from different stages of written, visual, aural, language
and code to dissipate into nothing. In my presentation all these aspects will be discussed by
demonstrating the work.

(Source: Author's abstract, 2012 ELO Conference site)