FIG(URATIONS): One Extended Metaphor for the Poetic Method, a Vignette for Convolute H (and an Ode to Walter Benjamin)

ABSTRACT

This vignette about experimental participatory art is part of an intellectual foray that criss-crossed Melbourne and Manhattan. As a refusal to form, the intent was to pose more questions than to provide answers on the process of collecting for an archive. The project draws from a site-specific work, and should be read as an ode to Walter Benjamin, providing a poetic description of collecting as method, walking and philosophy.

Keywords:

• collecting
• digital archives
• digital walking tours
• experimental participatory art
• Walter Benjamin
• locative media