“The Next Bit”, subtitle “Hautnah am Körper des Unbekannten” (Hand-to-hand with the unknown), is an article I wrote in 2018 for the issue 4 of the art magazine DIAPHANES. It was a welcome journey back to my Ph.D. times, when I was deeply involved in philosophical thoughts about the role of time in musical performances and in time-based art. Mario Gomes, who was co-curating the magazine, introduced to me the general thematic of the issue (“Merry Xenotism!”) and his wish to tackle the unknown, the alien, also from a semiotic point of view. And hey presto, a connection was done: we’re in hand-to-hand combat with the unknown, decoding bits of information with all our body.
Well, then I had to write the rest and maybe it was not so “presto”, because I had to go and find out notes and texts I wrote ten years before. But I found them in good shape and I’m glad I could give them some more life and perspective. Here’s the online version of the article, in the Italian version (German and French translations are available through navigation):