{"title":"Christian Bk","description":"\u003cp\u003eChristian Bk explores the intersection of innovation and creativity within contemporary arts and culture. His work delves into experimental narratives and artistic expression, offering readers a unique blend of intellectual depth and imaginative storytelling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Xenotext\u003c\/em\u003e exemplifies his approach, inviting reflection on the boundaries between art, science, and the written word. Those interested in challenging and thought-provoking literature will find his books both compelling and richly evocative.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-xenotext-by-christian-bk-9781552454985","title":"The Xenotext","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe first work of 'living poetry' in the world, by the author of the bestselling book \u003ci\u003eEunoia\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eChristian Bk, in Book 1 of \u003ci\u003eThe Xenotext\u003c\/i\u003e, outlined his plan to encode a poem into the genome of a deathless bacterium, thereby writing a text durable enough to outlive any apocalypse, surviving until the death of the Sun itself. After more than two decades of effort, Bk has, at last, succeeded at this incredible experiment, and Book 2 of \u003ci\u003eThe Xenotext\u003c\/i\u003e situates his enterprise within the deep time of the cosmos.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBk rehearses some of the techniques likely to be used in the future to preserve the cultural heritage of our civilisation against a potential planetary disaster (be it thermonuclear warfare or astrophysical barrage); moreover, Bk speculates that, buried within the biochemistry of Life itself, there really does exist an innate beauty, if not a hidden poetry—a literal message that we might read, if we deign to seek it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47363230138604,"sku":"9781552454985","price":39.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/20285253482740.jpg?v=1772918872"},{"product_id":"the-xenotext-by-christian-bk-9781552453216","title":"The Xenotext","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Many artists seek to attain immortality through their art, but few would expect their work to outlast the human race and live on for billions of years. As Canadian poet Christian Bök has realised, it all comes down to the durability of your materials.\" - \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInternationally best-selling poet Christian Bök has spent more than ten years writing what promises to be the first example of \"living poetry.\" After successfully demonstrating his concept in a colony of \u003ci\u003eE. coli\u003c\/i\u003e, Bök is on the verge of enciphering a beautiful, anomalous poem into the genome of an unkillable bacterium (\u003ci\u003eDeinococcus radiodurans\u003c\/i\u003e), which can, in turn, \"read\" his text, responding to it by manufacturing a viable, benign protein, whose sequence of amino acids enciphers yet another poem. The engineered organism might conceivably serve as a post-apocalyptic archive, capable of outlasting our civilisation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBook I of \u003ci\u003eThe Xenotext\u003c\/i\u003e constitutes a kind of \"demonic grimoire,\" providing a scientific framework for the project with a series of poems, texts, and illustrations. A Virgilian welcome to the Inferno, Book I is the \"orphic\" volume in a diptych, addressing the pastoral heritage of poets, who have sought to supplant nature in both beauty and terror. The book sets the conceptual groundwork for the second volume, which will document the experiment itself. \u003ci\u003eThe Xenotext\u003c\/i\u003e is experimental poetry in the truest sense of the term.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChristian Bök\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eCrystallography\u003c\/i\u003e (1994) and \u003ci\u003eEunoia\u003c\/i\u003e (2001), which won the Griffin Poetry Prize. He teaches at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47559066714348,"sku":"9781552453216","price":39.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781552453216-the-xenotext.jpg?v=1776929174"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/christian-bk.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}