I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in a Photography/Poetics experiment conducted
by Stanford University.

The experiment was conducted by the Stanford Photographic Otiose Opinion Foundation. S.P.O.O.F.
had heard about my theories of the relationship between Poetry and Photographs and were anxious
to hook me up to their Photo/Poetics Neuralizer to see what would happen, what could be proved.

Here’s some pix of me attached to the S.P.O.O.F. Neuralizer….it’s not as comfortable as it looks since
some of the wires are actually inserted right into the brain. I still have a headache from the deal so I’ll
only touch on one image/opinion/result from the experiment.

I maintain that photographs and poems are closely related. Both rely on the reading and reaction
of the audience, sometimes their meanings are obfuscated by the talent (or lack of talent) of their
creator….but it’s possible to build in signifiers, hints and signposts to guide the people studying
the Poem or the Photograph towards the meaning(s) the author intends. Usually the viewer can’t
actually verbalize the built-in meaning but it’s there none the less.

A case in point is the image below. The fellow is Dan Goldberg, the C.E.O. of Telesat Canada.
This is a firm that puts satellites into space and then rents their bandwidth to other companies.
The image was set up to reflect those facts, whether you see it or not……he’s sitting on a wave
in front of a black void. How obvious can you get? I maintain that the image effectively recreates,
in the dude’s front lobby no less, the kind of business he’s in.

Here’s where the S.P.O.O.F. Neuralizer came in. I was hooked up and questioned about this image.
After much poking/prodding/pontificating/posturing the folks at S.P.O.O.F have declared me SANE!
That, in fact, there is a meaning to this editorial portrait of a C.E.O. That I’m not making this shit up.

Thank you, thank you very much.