K Silem Mohammad on Flarf

    
                                       
                                   
In 2005 Tom Beckett conducted an interview with KSM.
A link to the entire interview will be the focus of 
what is in this post, but so that you have an idea  
of what to expect, these excerpts:                 
*                                                 
  "Form makes us feel."                             
  -                                               
  ". . . it just means we all use what we've      
   got in whatever way we can."                
  -
  ". . . curiosity. . . ."                        
  -                                                
  "The first thing I try to do as a writer       
   is surprise myself."                          
*                                                
                                                   
My point is to forward the human behind the artifact.
                                           
I don't care if I have trouble appreciating what results  
from acts of flarfing.  That is for me to deal with over
time.  I do care about the process, about the efforts a   
flarfist makes to create an artifact that communicates,  
that has value for those who can appreciate artifacts   
of that type.  Artistry is artistry, no matter its origin.  
I was 18 or 19 when I first heard music by Stravinsky,
and I thought/ what in the--.  With help from two other   
students, and through listening to it several times, I 
began to understand and feel why it was highly touted.
During my last years in Gainesville, Florida, the San  
Francisco Symphony presented a series of radio pro-  
grams moderated by a woman whose name escapes    
me.  It was about American maverick composers.   
Read the interview.                 
                                                          
                                                      
                                                     
                                                   
                                                   
kh00018