While a picture is worth a thousand words, there is no accounting for art made from words.

As part of the Harpur College Dean’s Workshop in Visual Culture series, or VizCult, Jeroen Gerrits, an assistant professor in the comparative literature department, discussed digital literature with a group of professors and students.

Digital literature, or text-based art, is created using digital mediums such as computer coding. It is a relatively new art form that can only be created and viewed on computers.

“We are all familiar with new media: We use laptops and iPhones, are constantly connected to the web, interact on social media, stream music and videos online and so on,” Gerrits said. “But we are not very familiar with art and literature that actually makes use of new, digital media. What I’m interested in is the question, how is literature made specifically on a computer or for the web different from print literature, as well as from film?”

The presentation outlined different concepts and examples of digital literature, as well as the issues surrounding the medium.

According to Gerrits, digital literature can come in different forms. However, he focused mainly on poetry as the way digital literature transcends the boundaries between art- and object-hood. The digital nature of the art means it doesn’t exist as a physical object. Digital literature and the dialogue surrounding it serves to explore the question of not necessarily how it is, but how it works and what the patron sees.

Poetry in the form of digital literature is made up of animated text on the screen, which gives a new dimension to the meaning and perception of the piece. The art is therefore based on the perception by the viewer, not as it was intended by the artist.

“I got to know it because of my interest in contemporary film and poetry generally, but it wasn’t love at first sight,” Gerrits said. “Digital poetry is very difficult and when you first encounter it, you don’t really know how it works. It can be intimidating too because you need to know about computers as well as about literature to enjoy it.”

“Mesostics for Dick Higgins” by Miekal And was one of the pieces used in the presentation. It is made up of a series of 17 poems constantly in succession, revolving around a base letter in each line of the poem. The takeaway from the poem is dependent on a number of variables, including the speed of Internet connection, which affects the speed of each individual word loading and making up the new poem.

The problem with some types of e-lit is that changes in technology can affect how it is viewed. The comparative literature department had to install Windows 95 onto computers to view some e-lit.

VizCult is a series of different speakers from the art history department and others, exposing different ideas and concepts along different disciplines.

“What I take away is an exercise in thinking scholastically,” said Sidney Dement, an assistant professor in Russian. “The things he spoke about were outside of my field, but I still understood, and it expands my knowledge.”

Courtney Chung, an undeclared sophomore, said that the talk helped her broaden her academic scope.

“It’s nice to be involved in an academic setting by your own choice in a subject you may not have necessarily had any interest in or would not usually have access to,” Chung said. “I think I will be taking advantage of these events more often.”