+++
title = "Analogies and Axes"
glassblowers = ["nickthurston.md"]
+++

The interests within this group overlap on different axes. 

In our conversations, the dominant axis is one of ![networks](bib:199f1eef-f355-4c96-9167-152604db4303). We have discussed ![horizontal kinships](bib:13bc7f21-2c9c-49e6-82a1-370010b6f3f7) between like-archives (most immediately, [Memory of the World](https://memoryoftheworld.org), [Monoskop](https://monoskop.org/Monoskop)) using the terms of digital culture and computational engineering to think practically about "the political". But my guess is that the politics of the people behind these like-seeming archives are probably quite varied, beyond sharing ![one guiding question](shard:whatif.md) (i.e., what if copyright didn't exist?).

So, I want to think [UBUweb](https://ubu.com) on a different axis, in terms of remix culture and another cluster of like-minded archives, which UBUweb scaled-up among. [PennSound](https://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/), the [Electronic Poetry Centre](https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/), and later the [Eclipse archive](http://eclipsearchive.org/) all try to sample and share — for educational use — the vernacular heritage of literary communities who self-identify with non-mainstream culture.

Remixining has lots of histories. My guess is that lots of those histories were remixed in the conjuring of UBUweb, from New York's ![hip-hop sampling culture](bib:fc88d0bf-f16c-4be3-8d40-5fcf57ae7dd2) of the 1980s to Aby Warburg's atlas of "![constellations](bib:ddc75231-3e15-4502-9cd9-164d0dd031de)", not to mention the ![quotational practices](bib:d449e674-621b-4aeb-bf49-dfde945b5d80) of ![post-conceptual art](bib:b2efb196-957d-4a49-be14-c7bc1d413494) and [LANGUAGE poetry](https://writing.upenn.edu/library/Messerli-Douglas_Intro-LP_1987.html). My guess is that Kenneth loved/loves file-sharing; that he had/has lots of playlists. Certainly, he was/is [a great DJ](https://rwm.macba.cat/en/research/memorabilia-collecting-sounds-kenneth-goldsmith-part-ii).

If ![Alfred Jarry's Ubu plays](bib:b9d07fea-3369-45e4-95fe-580cc07f1a26) are one clear reference to a long history of modernism, another crucial reference sampled in the-remix-that-is-UBUweb is the 20th-century tradition of the "![little magazine](bib:6e4ceeee-231a-47fc-bf52-ee5c9429683a)". Particularly its ![tactical politics](bib:061874e6-c6eb-4c59-9657-737836eb8eca), and what Abraham Foley might call the "![editor function](bib:c1f7bbfc-a23b-4110-a052-42f0d19891d4)" therein. 

Here I want to invoke the brilliant work of [Danny Snelson](https://monoskop.org/Danny_Snelson), who formulated the concept of "![the little database](bib:5f85f662-bfd0-435d-ba5c-7ce83836d40a)" to talk analogously about exactly the cluster of like-minded archives I mention on this other, literary axis. Snelson uses the phrase to describe relatively small web collections (in data count and purview) that transcode cross-arts content (videos, text, docs, etc; but also at the levels of genre, art form, etc) based on a clear editorial focus, such that the content and connections between it are nurtured not simply scraped. 

I think Snelson's work can help us understand the centrality and value of subjective intention in these projects. In the spirit of remix culture, the 'editor function' is itself a compositional act. For me, [John Baldessari](https://ubu.com/film/baldessari.html) taught us the greatest lesson about post-conceptual artistic composition: it is simply the act of deciding ["this not that"](https://search.worldcat.org/title/this-not-that-the-artist-john-baldessari/oclc/500391349).  
   
From this point of view, we can draw out a difference between UBUweb and the kindred archives on our dominant axis. Memory of the World is an experiment in public librarianship. Monoskop is a wiki-driven public reference tool. UBUweb is more like a series of overlaid playlists, more like a private library shared, including for those who guest-edited sub-sections. 
