Andrew C. Bulhak
Australia
Postmodernism Generator
The Postmodernism Generator of Andrew C. Bulhak is a device that makes it possible to generate random, meaningless and yet realistic-looking text within defined genres. Through the use of Recursive Transition Networks (a kind of diagram which shows how a task, such as the construction of a text, may be performed), Bulhak has developed a system for evaluating scripts and generating formatted text, initially named the Dada Engine.
The original application of the Dada Engine was to generate travesties of papers on postmodernism, literary criticism, cultural theory and similar uses. According to Bulhak, these genres were rewarding because of their combination of complex jargon with a high degree of subjectivity.
The Postmodernism Generator gives rise to several interesting questions at issue. With the Alan Sokal hoax in fresh memory it is easy to see the work of Bulhak as part of the same crusade against pretentious pseudo-science of all sorts. However, part from generating phoney papers on post-modernism the Dada Engine of Bulhak puts the light on the limits of context-free linguistic communication as well as on the poetic dimensions beyond the meaningful: Language as a free-source code open to anybody with a creative ability of interpretation and reconfiguration.
The Postmoderanism Generator:
http://www.elsewhere.org/cgi-bin/postmodern/
Andrew C. Bulhaks website:
http://dev.null.org/