In this short piece, Larsen displays a blurred image of the face of Michelangelo’s David and overlays it with invisible hotspots triggered by the pointer, displaying color coded texts from different speakers, making a sharp “carving” sound, and sharpening the focus of the image gradually over the course of 40 triggers. This approach allows readers to “carve out” different textual combinations and readings of the poem— a fitting example of Larsen’s interest in metaphorical interfaces for her works. Even though the variations in color, size, and font indicate different voices and add weight to some of the lines, they can be distracting from the powerful statements they make. Focusing on the text and its location leads to insight on this work by one of Western civilizations’ most important sculptors, credited for saying things like “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” Deena Larsen has been carving e-literature out of the possibilities digital media has offered her for about two decades now. See her sculptures and the tools she’s used to shape them at http://www.deenalarsen.net/

Featured in The Electronic Literature Collection, Volume 1.