| Author | Jim Andrews |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | electronic literature |
Publication date | 2001 |
Nio is an electronic literature piece of sound poetry by Jim Andrews that was first published in 2001 and that combines visual, sonic, and interactive components. [1]
The work is in two parts as an interactive audio and visual piece designed for the Web. [2] Scott Rettberg describes this work as " a cross between a sound poem, kinetic visual art, and an interactive musical instrument." [3] He further contends that Nio is proof that poems do not need to consist of words to be "poetic and evocative." [3]
New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. commissioned Nio for its Turbulence website, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. [4] The work first appeared in Turbulence and on Jim Andrew's site, Vispo. [4] The work was later collated into the Electronic Literature Organization's Electronic Literature Collection Volume 1. [4] The work is under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License. [4] The work was exhibited at Tangible Frequences in 2006 in British Columbia, Canada. Dene Grigar reviewed this exhibition, calling Nio a beautifully conceptualized work. [5]
Mirapaul called Nio one of the most important Net art pieces and noted that it invites the user to become the co-creator of its generated audiovisual poems. [6] Manual Portela extends this work as a form of game, detailing that "[Andrews] digital poetics transforms interactive, kinetic, and multimedia features of digital literacy into games and textual instruments." [7] In his PhD dissertation on the work, "Typing the Dancing Signifier: Jim Andrew's (vis)poetics (2010), Leonardo Flores explains that these works are electronic texts that cannot be printed. [8] Flores notes that Jim Andrews' work exemplifies the interplay between programming and poetry, creating dynamic reading experiences." [8] The work was taught in courses, including Christopher Funkhouser's 2008 Digital Poetry syllabus at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. [9]
* Song Shapes, part of the Nio project at Unlikely 2.0. [4] 