virus: Virian Art?

Andy Cheyne Service-LL (acheyne@madge.com)
Thu, 16 May 96 17:59:14 +0100

A posting that leakes accidentally onto the list recently hinted at the
possibility of establising an Internet-based Virus Theatre. What
characteristics would this, or any other Virian art forms take? I'd
guess that most of us could recognize Christian or Islamic art when we
encountered it, although I'm sure it is far more difficult to construct a
definition of the attributes that make art "Christian" or whatever. Is
the purpose of Virian art - presupposing that such a thing is possible -
to be celebratory? Evangelical? Educational? Aesthetic? Challenging?
Some or all of these?
______
On a related subject, I'd be grateful for a few pointers.
Twentieth-century philosophy, with Wittgenstein at its apex, has focussed
on verbal reasoning and linguistic communication. In my view, the concept
of the meme (no, Im not following THAT thread just now :-)) contains at
least a nuance of the verbal. But what of the non-verbal? What is the
Virian view of the emotional response? Those
feelings-that-you-can't-put-into-words? The gut reponse to a work of
art? They certainly exist, but how do they fit into a memetic view of
the world?

Andy Cheyne {acheyne@madge.com}