I make art that can help viewers become more aware of the workings of their minds. Much of this work is part of the {M} project, which you can read about here
sound-art
other work
work of Lawrence/Larry Johnson: text-sound, sound-art, performance art. concrete poetry, writing, etc,.
2012
Lawrence S Johnson
download volumes from The Library of Babel
The Universe (which some call the Library) is made up of an uncounted, possibly infinite number of six-sided rooms. A vast well, in the center of each room and guarded by a low railing, admits air.
Jorge Luis Borges' story, The Library of Babel opens with the above words. A little later, Borges describes the bookshelves and the books:
On each wall there are five shelves, each holding thirty-two books with identical layouts and bindings. Each book has four hundred ten pages; each page has forty lines; each line is made up of more or less eighty letters, all black.
He then states that the letters in each book appear to be completely random (as if typed by the chimpanzees we so often hear about) and that the inhabitants of the Library are constantly searching for readable text within the innumerable volumes. The story explores the many philosophical implications of this situation.
There have been several realizations of volumes of the Library that have used lines of exactly eighty letters. I believe that Borges described the books differently. He wrote ...cada renglón, de unas ochenta letras de color negro which I translate literally to each line of some eighty black letters. So not exactly eighty, but more-or-less eighty. I think it's quite clear that Borges conceived of the books as set in a conventional, variably-spaced typeface, with variable letter-counts for each line, averaging eighty letters.
Loving Borges' work, and loving The Library of Babel above all, I started generating volumes from the Library in 2012, using a PHP program I wrote. These are unique in that they use variably-spaced fonts and are still fully justified (explanation below.)
Here are a growing number of pdf files of Library of Babel volumes from my program which you are free to download and use as you wish (but don't copyright them. All these files are copyright @ 2020 Lawrence S. Johnson) :
download volumes from The Library of Babel
I had three copies of dgihsmunllb printed in 2012 (see photo above) for the exhibition VERBI-VOCO-VISUAL: CONCRETE POETRY AND DERIVATIONS, 1972-2013, curated by the late Jed Speare at Mobius in Boston. I have one copy, my niece, Beth Myhr, has another, and Jed's estate has the third. Rereading the Borges story, I note that he states: There are no two books alike in the vast Library. By printing three copies of the same book, I feel like I have violated a sacred statute. I wish I had understood this eight years ago. Perhaps the other two volumes no longer exist, and balance has been restored to the universe of the Library.
This is certainly not the first program to generate Babel volumes. Looking at earlier efforts, I noticed that they invariably used monospaced fonts (like Courier) and that all the lines were exactly eighty characters in length. I prefer fonts with variable widths, like the Helvetica I am writing in right now, and I really prefer the flowing rhythms of a page set in such a typeface.
download volumes from The Library of Babel
2018
Lawrence S Johnson
Lawrence S Johnson
Dsriuptoin 2018
The Library of Babel 2012
Austen Melville Hybrid
Ullyses Twitter project
2004
Lawrence S Johnson
2005
Lawrence S Johnson
I make art that can help viewers become more aware of the workings of their minds.
For years, I have had a website at meotod.com. On 7 October, 2020, it will close. It's no longer necessary for me and I would rather put time and money into art-making. In fact, it has been almost three years since I have made any change to meotod.com.My plan is to use this blog, along with Instagram and YouTube as a substitute for meotod.com.
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NE TE QUAESIVERIS EXTRA.
MAN IS HIS OWN STAR; AND THE SOUL THAT CAN RENDER AN HONEST AND A PERFECT MAN, COMMANDS ALL LIGHT* ALL INFLUENCE, ALL FATE; NOTHING TO HIM FALLS EARL* OR TOO LATE. OUR ACTS OUR *NGELS A*E, OR GOOD OR ILL, OUR FATAL SHADOWS THAT WALK BY US STILL* EPILOGUE TO BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER S HONEST MAN S FORTUNE
CAST THE BANTLING O* THE RO**S, SUCKLE *IM WITH THE SHE-WOLF S TEAT* WINTE*ED WI*H THE HAWK AND FOX, POWER AND SPEE* BE HA*DS A*D FEE*. *
ESSAY I* SELF-RELIANCE
I R*AD THE *THE* *AY SOME VERSES WRITTEN *Y AN EMI*ENT PAIN*E* WHICH WERE ORIGINAL *ND *OT CON*ENTIONAL. THE SOUL ALW*YS HEARS AN A*MONI*ION IN SUCH LINES, LET T*E S*BJECT BE WHAT I* MAY* THE SENT*M*NT THEY INSTIL IS OF MORE V*LUE THAN ANY THO*GHT THEY M*Y CONTAIN. *O BEL*EVE YO*R *WN T*OU**T, TO BELIEVE THA* WHA* *S TRUE FO* YOU IN *OUR PRIVATE HEAR* *S TRUE FOR A** MEN, � THAT IS GENIU*. SPEAK YOUR LATE*T C*NVICTIO*, AND IT SHALL BE THE UNIVER**L S*NS** *OR **E I*MOST *N DU* *IME *ECOMES TH* OUTMOST*�* AN* OUR FIRST THOUGHT ** RENDE*ED BACK TO US BY THE TRUM*ETS OF T** LAS* JUDGM**T. FAMILIAR AS TH* *OIC* OF THE **ND IS TO EA*H* THE HIGHES* ME*IT *E A*CRIBE TO M*SES, PLATO, AND *ILTO* IS, TH*T THE* SET AT NAU**T BO**S **D *RADITIONS* A*D SP*KE NOT **AT M** B** W*** T*EY **OUGHT* * M*N S*O**D LEARN *O DETECT AND WATCH THA* GL*AM *F *IGH* WHICH *L*SH*S ACR*SS HI* MIND FROM WIT*IN, *ORE T**N T*E LUSTRE *F TH* FIRMAMENT O* B*RDS *ND SAG*S* YET HE D*SMI**E* W*T*OUT NO*ICE H*S THOUGHT, BE*AU*E IT IS H*S. IN EVE*Y WOR* O* *EN*U* WE R*COG*IZE **R O** REJE**E* THOU*H*S* THEY *OME B*CK TO U* WITH A *E*TAIN ALI*NATE* MAJES*Y. *R**T W**KS OF ART H*** NO *ORE A***C**NG LESSON *OR *S *HAN THI*. *HE* T***H *S T* *BIDE B* OUR S*ONTANEOU* IMPRESSIO* *IT* G**D*H**O*E* I*FLEX*BILI*Y THEN MOS* WH*N *** WHOLE C** *F *OI*ES IS O* T*E O*HE* SI**. ELSE, TO-M*R**W * S**AN*ER WIL* *A* WITH MAS***L* GO*D SEN*E P*E*I*ELY WHAT WE HA** THOU*H* A** F*L* *LL T** TIME, *ND W* SHALL BE F*RCE* TO T*KE WITH SHAM* OUR O** OPINI*N F*OM ANOTHER. *
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W*AT I MUST DO IS ALL THAT CONCERNS ME, NOT WHAT THE PEOPLE *HI*K. THIS RULE, EQUALLY ARDUOUS IN ACTUAL AND IN INTELLECTUAL LIFE, MAY SERVE FOR THE WHOLE DISTINCTION BETWEEN GREATNESS AND MEANNESS. IT IS THE HARDER,