Portuguese Net Art and e-Poetics
Proposal Type
Panel
Location
Algorithms & Imaginaries
Start Date
July 2026
End Date
July 2026
Abstract
This roundtable brings together four experts in the history, practice, and theoretical discussion of Net Art and e-Poetry in Portugal to address definitions, technical features, preservation, aesthetics, critical frameworks, and the possibilities and challenges of working at the intersection of innovation and tradition.
The roundtable examines Net Art and e-Poetry as (now) historical fields and evolving practices that continually redefine their own conditions of production, circulation, and preservation and, in doing so, raise challenges about how computational art projects endure, transform, and become legible over time. E-Poetry, and Net Art demonstrate an expanded understanding of poetic practice and frontiers for aesthetic experimentation. Drawing on a diverse corpus of works produced in Portugal over the last fifty years, we present examples that reveal the cultural and technical richness of Portuguese e-poetry, enabling an analysis of both their technological aspects and how they dialog with symbolic meanings. Net Art and e-Poetry are inherently mutable which makes customized preservation strategies essential to counter technological obsolescence.
Finally, we will reflect on the Portuguese context, where studies articulating e-poetry, teaching, and literary education have been gaining prominence, we will discuss ways in which these practices can contribute to the development of competencies such as digital literacy, critical thinking, and dialogue between human authors and the more recent role of generative processes based on artificial intelligence.
Portuguese Net Art and e-Poetics
Algorithms & Imaginaries
This roundtable brings together four experts in the history, practice, and theoretical discussion of Net Art and e-Poetry in Portugal to address definitions, technical features, preservation, aesthetics, critical frameworks, and the possibilities and challenges of working at the intersection of innovation and tradition.
The roundtable examines Net Art and e-Poetry as (now) historical fields and evolving practices that continually redefine their own conditions of production, circulation, and preservation and, in doing so, raise challenges about how computational art projects endure, transform, and become legible over time. E-Poetry, and Net Art demonstrate an expanded understanding of poetic practice and frontiers for aesthetic experimentation. Drawing on a diverse corpus of works produced in Portugal over the last fifty years, we present examples that reveal the cultural and technical richness of Portuguese e-poetry, enabling an analysis of both their technological aspects and how they dialog with symbolic meanings. Net Art and e-Poetry are inherently mutable which makes customized preservation strategies essential to counter technological obsolescence.
Finally, we will reflect on the Portuguese context, where studies articulating e-poetry, teaching, and literary education have been gaining prominence, we will discuss ways in which these practices can contribute to the development of competencies such as digital literacy, critical thinking, and dialogue between human authors and the more recent role of generative processes based on artificial intelligence.
Bio
Johanna Drucker, artist and scholar, is Breslauer and Distinguished Professor Emerita, UCLA.
Sofia Ponte is an artist, curator, assistant professor at IADE - Universidade Europeia and researcher at UNIDCOM.
Rui Torres, University Fernando Pessoa (UFP) / NOVA Institute of Communication (ICNOVA).
Manuel Portela is a Professor at the University of Coimbra, whose research addresses writing and reading media and how they impact on literary forms and practices.
Diogo Marques (University of Porto / CODA + ILCML) is a researcher and artist working at the intersection of electronic literature and creative digital practice, with a focus on algorithmic non-normativity.