Article:

From OULIPO to Transitoire Observable The Evolution of French Digital Poetry

The paper presents the evolution of French digital poetry. Each digital culture is based on a founding general paradigm, non-digital by itself, that orients perception and creation of works. In France, this paradigm is generation. It is greatly relativized today, due to cultural exchanges, networks and a certain degree of cultural globalization, but it remains a pertinent paradigm to understand most of French actual digital poetry. The paper first introduces the general concept of generation as a particular case of programming. Then, the paper distinguishes two periods: the original period of “text generation” and the second period of “animated generation”. It presents the different movements and collectives of each period, both in their functioning and their conceptions. It notably shows the role of the technical context and of general aesthetics influences of Max Bense’s variational art theory and concrete and sound poetry in the evolution of the conceptions. The groups OULIPO and A.L.A.M.O. are associated with the first period, L.A.I.R.E. and Transitoire Observable with the second.