from The Xenotext: “language is a virus”
🦠🔭♾️📜🔥🖤
The story begins in The Dark, Pale Meadow. The book itself is dedicated to the maiden there, and the eponymous poem situated between the covers of The Xenotext tells of a visceral love story of the willful, courageous, and damned.
Bassil Taleb (
@bsltlb ) reads us the poem with code, transforming uncertainty and fate into a work of generative art. Evoking the flame of darkness and the chaos of internal war, “The Dark, Pale Meadow” reveals the tenacious glimmers of hope in the more.
Excerpts here from the work by
@bsltlb :
[1] The Dark, Pale Meadow #62 (dynamic capture)
[2] The Dark, Pale Meadow #63 (still capture)
[3] The Dark, Pale Meadow #64 (still capture)
[4] The Dark, Pale Meadow #65 (still capture)
[5] The Dark, Pale Meadow #62 (still capture)
•••
from The Dark, Pale Meadow by Christian Bök (
@umlautmachine ):
“
The dark, pale
meadow burns,
allow like snow on fire:
this field of dew,
where we
bestrew
our tears of woe.
In Hell,
we learn to wield
no weapon
but the lyre.
”
•••
See “The Dark, Pale Meadow” presented by Bassil Taleb in The Xenotext: “language is a virus” exhibited in our
@objktcom gallery:
/collections/exhibitions/projects/the-xenotext-language-is-a-virus-31553744/exhibition
The Xenotext: “language is a virus” celebrates the legacy of empathy encoded in a love poem poised to outlive the Sun. The exhibition celebrates the achievement of Christian Bök (
@umlautmachine ) who successfully implanted the dialogue of sonnets into a deathless bacterium which glows red upon reading the work inside its own DNA. Bök’s project is called The Xenotext, published by Coach House Books (
@coachhousebooks ) 2015 & 2025.
•••
#poetry #poetryexhibition #generativeart #eurydice #orpheus #christianbok #thexenotext #conceptualpoetry #code
![Pausing the endless stream, Sarah Ridgely (@sarahridgley) offers us a moment to reflect on the sin of female erasure. Eurydice is only really remembered through Orpheus, her narrative impact limited to the motif of a nymph, as a mere motivational object rather than a whole woman with flaws, fears, and dreams unmet.‘Be All My Sins Remembered’ draws from Ridgley’s earlier work ‘Nymph in Thy Orisons’ which contemplates the continuous overwrite of the female figure through mythology, literature, and history. This piece also asks whether systems built with code can carry meaning across time, and if so, what does it retain and what does it reduce or lose along the way.The work appears in the Special Edition of The Xenotext (Book 2) by Christian Bök (@umlautmachine) published by Coach House Books (@coachhousebooks), 2025.The earlier work ‘Nymph in Thy Orisons’ debuted as part of Code Chronicles, the 2023 exhibition at bitforms Gallery (@bitforms) in New York City, curated by Alessandra Art (@aljaparis).Presented in The Xenotext: “language is a virus”, an exhibition held on @objktcom. Curated by Christian Bök and organized by Elisabeth Sweet (@speciesofvalue).Visit the exhibition: /collections/exhibitions/projects/the-xenotext-language-is-a-virus-31553744/exhibition•••Image shown:[1] Be All My Sins Remembered by Sarah Ridgely, an algorithmic artwork depicting bright red and pink lilies in a yellow and blue stream(The work has been cropped due to the limitations of the Instagram app)#poetry #myth #femaleform #conceptualpoetry #thexenotext #christianbok #algorithmicart #code #meditation](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6752531331334555612245_0_8d480738b1fa340376d49ebfc40c1286.jpg?o=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&h=78d8fa65283cca044f571b92d384dfb7)
![The moment before the irrevocable. Eurydice by Danielle King (@daniellekingart) looks at us as if from a dream, the dream she has for her own freedom, the hope for the longer life she might have lived. Doomed by her lover’s doubt, Eurydice is denied her chance for redemption. But before she falls, she engulfs us with the beauty of her hopeful being.After the couple is ripped apart forever, after Orpheus looks back at his love instead of waiting until they had both fully exited the Underworld as Hades commanded, the story follows Orpheus’s grief and loss, letting Eurydice fade into the background.Danielle King’s expression of Eurydice, the famed character of Greek myth, seeks to center the woman so often seen as secondary to her lover, Orpheus.In The Xenotext, Christian Bök (@umlautmachine) encodes the dinner ‘Eurydice’ in Protein 13, which when read by D. radiodurans, glows red. Eurydice signals readership and affirms the existence of the groundbreaking work by Bök whose work of living poetry is set to outlive the lifetime of the Sun.•••Image:[1] Eurydice by Danielle KingThe artwork was made with an artificial sentience for the occasion of the release of The Xenotext (Book 2) by Christian Bök, published by Coach House Books (@coachhousebooks) 2015 & 2025.Presented in The Xenotext: “language is a virus”, an exhibition held on @objktcom, Curated by Christian Bök and organized by Elisabeth Sweet (@speciesofvalue).Visit the exhibition: /collections/exhibitions/projects/the-xenotext-language-is-a-virus-31553744/exhibition•••#poetry #ai #eurydice #thexenotext #christianbok #poetryexhibition #conceptualpoetry](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6752465873383955254637_0_8944cbd1bbcd1519320fe7fcecbd07ac.jpg?o=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&h=b3c49b7b75e11321f9a5ac3f135b103c)
![from The Xenotext: “language is a virus” ️ The story begins in The Dark, Pale Meadow. The book itself is dedicated to the maiden there, and the eponymous poem situated between the covers of The Xenotext tells of a visceral love story of the willful, courageous, and damned.Bassil Taleb (@bsltlb) reads us the poem with code, transforming uncertainty and fate into a work of generative art. Evoking the flame of darkness and the chaos of internal war, “The Dark, Pale Meadow” reveals the tenacious glimmers of hope in the more.Excerpts here from the work by @bsltlb:[1] The Dark, Pale Meadow #62 (dynamic capture)[2] The Dark, Pale Meadow #63 (still capture)[3] The Dark, Pale Meadow #64 (still capture)[4] The Dark, Pale Meadow #65 (still capture)[5] The Dark, Pale Meadow #62 (still capture)•••from The Dark, Pale Meadow by Christian Bök (@umlautmachine):“The dark, palemeadow burns,allow like snow on fire:this field of dew,where webestrewour tears of woe.In Hell,we learn to wieldno weaponbut the lyre.”•••See “The Dark, Pale Meadow” presented by Bassil Taleb in The Xenotext: “language is a virus” exhibited in our @objktcom gallery:/collections/exhibitions/projects/the-xenotext-language-is-a-virus-31553744/exhibitionThe Xenotext: “language is a virus” celebrates the legacy of empathy encoded in a love poem poised to outlive the Sun. The exhibition celebrates the achievement of Christian Bök (@umlautmachine) who successfully implanted the dialogue of sonnets into a deathless bacterium which glows red upon reading the work inside its own DNA. Bök’s project is called The Xenotext, published by Coach House Books (@coachhousebooks) 2015 & 2025.•••#poetry #poetryexhibition #generativeart #eurydice #orpheus #christianbok #thexenotext #conceptualpoetry #code](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6752384221527229684429_0_5336bab60f135298e4451f69a84d1ef3.jpg?o=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&h=d532afbeb87b286a71ac890ced8f2ff5)
