|23\/13\/\/ 0|= "Landscapes"

http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/marsh__landscapes.html

Plain and Simple: I found this particular piece captivating because of its bright colors.
Is it art or literature?

As a quick disclaimer, I do recognize the fact that there is some overlap between the two categories and that art, literature and everything in between and outside of those circles such as music can be grouped under the category of Fine Arts.

That said, I do not consider "Landscapes" a work of literature so much as a work of art. To me, the difference between Literature and Art is very simple. If you enjoy something because it is clearly beautiful to the senses of touch and sight, then it is a work of art. However, if you enjoy something because of images it provokes you to see in your mind through words written or heard, it is literature.

This is an awesome concept to me because by those definitions, a blind person can only directly enjoy art through touch (and even that depends on whether a person considers touch a genuine determining factor in some art, because if it is not, then it should be a whole different category altogether, like smell.)

Words can, however, be used as art. For example, they may not make sense as words, but they do contribute as patterns to an overall conceptualization of the image an artist is trying to display.

"Landscapes" does use both the medium of art and the medium of literature to display its messages. The artist/writer, Bill Marsh, describes his piece like this: "Landscapes presents five animated canvases which together comprise a dreamscape of anarchic play, urban order, and media saturation. Each landscape pairs a short Biblical proverb with a series of images taken from street protests, multimedia conferences, Hollywood films, and other private and public sites. The proverb in each of the landscapes scrolls on a loop across the screen and is "locked" in position behind a viewing portal. To read the proverb is to make do with the fractured characters visible through small holes in the portal."

Because of the mixed media used throughout this piece, I think that "Landscapes" is an excellent example of the many techniques an individual can use in order to create "Electronic Literature."