Submission 2 : Etang


The title of the work, in English and in the original language.
	Pond ; Etang
The names and email addresses of all authors and contributors of the work. Please indicate 
the primary contact.
	Alexandra Saemmer (alexandra.saemmer@univ-paris8.fr)
A URL where a Zip archive of the work can be downloaded (even if the work is available 
online). 
	Original adress : http://www.mandelbrot.fr/Etang.html 
	Italian version : http://www.alexandrasaemmer.fr/Stagno.html
	Zip archive : http://www.alexandrasaemmer.fr/etang.zip 
A short description of the work, in English and the original language.
Pond is the result of a writing experience I have had with a friend. Just like my father, hers had died of a serious illness. For several weeks, we would meet and talk about our experience. Through short texts revolving around several themes, we would try to imagine each other's experience. Some years after this experience in writing, I had the opportunity to take pictures in a burned-down house. On insurance grounds, the former inhabitants had had to leave all their belongings in the burned rooms. I decided to fill these rooms with the voice of my friend's father, as well as with his daughter's voice.
By interacting on manipulable elements, the reader moves from room to room in this soot-covered house. But the images are just reflections, vague memories, completely conditioned by the subjective eye of the photographer. The "voices" floating on these evanescent images are equally labile, i.e. constructed and deconstructed by fragile textual animations. The author's voice is sometimes superimposed on the animated text; in German, this voice tells her own experience of her father's death.
Death, forgetfulness, the slow but sure decay of memories are both suggested on a "visual" level and denied by the circularity of the "wandering" experience. The digital work tries to preserve these memories, even if they are to fall inevitably into oblivion. 
The work invites the reader to become a party to this desperate attempt to prevent the stream of oblivion from leaking. 

Etang est le rŽsultat d'une expŽrience d'Žcriture avec une ami. Tout comme mon p�re, le sien est mort d'une maladie grave. Pendant plusieurs semaines, nous nous sommes rencontrŽes pour parler de notre expŽrience. A l'aide de courts textes organisŽs autour de plusieurs th�mes, nous avons essayŽ d'imaginer l'expŽrience de l'autre. Quelques annŽes apr�s cette expŽrience d'Žcriture, j'ai eu l'occasion de prendre des photos dans une maison incendiŽe. Pour des raisons d'assurance, les anciens habitants avaient dž quitter tous leurs biens dans les pi�ces bržlŽes. J'ai dŽcidŽ de repeupler ces pi�ces avec la voix du p�re de mon ami, ainsi qu'avec la voix de sa fille.
En interagissant sur les ŽlŽments manipulables, le lecteur se dŽplace de pi�ce en pi�ce dans cette maison couverte de suie. Mais les images ne sont que des reflets, de vagues souvenirs, enti�rement conditionnŽs par le regard subjectif du photographe. 
Les ÇvoixÈ flottantes sur ces images Žvanescentes sont Žgalement labiles, construites et dŽconstruites par la fragilitŽ des animations textuelles. La voix de l'auteur est parfois superposŽe sur le texte animŽ ; en allemand, cette voix raconte sa propre expŽrience de la mort du p�re.
La mort, l'oubli, la dŽsintŽgration lente mais certaine des souvenirs sont ˆ la fois suggŽrŽs sur au niveau visuels et niŽs par la circularitŽ l'expŽrience d'errance. L'Ïuvre numŽrique cherche ˆ prŽserver ces souvenirs, m�me s'ils tombent inŽvitablement dans l'oubli au bout d'un certain temps. Etang invite le lecteur ˆ devenir complice de cette tentative dŽsespŽrŽe de prŽvenir la fuite vers le flux de l'oubli.

Language(s) in which the work is produced.
	French ; Italian
Any special technical requirements for the work (plug-ins, specific browser, etc.)
	Flash Player
If the work has been previously published or distributed please indicate the date, publisher, 
and location or format. 
Published on my personal website www.mandelbrot.fr
Additional information : 
	Some critical writings that reference or mention the work : 
	- Julien Denault, Ç Compte-rendu critique de l'oeuvre "ƒtang" de Alexandra 
	Saemmer È, 	revue Cahier virtuel 4, UQAM, MontrŽal, 2009, 
	http://nt2.uqam.ca/recherches/cahier/sommaire/premieres_approches 
	- Fran�ois Bon, Ç Inexorable Mandelbrot È, 2010
	http://www.tierslivre.net/spip/spip.php?article2159 
	- Giovanna di Rosario, Ç La letteratura elettronica � un p˜ pi� europea È, 	2011, http://www.paneacqua.eu/notizia.php?id=17617