Lamia #51

Frederik Vanhoutte has pushed his work into a new direction with “Lamia,” an isometric presentation of the poem with the same name written by John Keats in 1819.

The work cycles through the 728 lines of the poem, with one line presented every 8 seconds, so it takes 97 minutes for the entire text to cycle back to the start. The selected 3 × 3 pixel font intentionally obscures the text, but with practice, it can indeed be read.

Frederik is interested in two interpretations of the poem: first, as a way to express the idea that scientific knowledge doesn’t destroy the romantic idea of beauty; and second, as a cautionary tale of misguided cultural subversion.