Lines of Flight

Can the act of gliding perform also as an act of writing? The sweeping movements of a glider aircraft through the sky already inscribe a range of transient, circular traces—an asemic script that is written at the intersection between wind, wing, and piloting ability. Can these gestures provide the b...

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Main Author: Richard A. Carter
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of California Press 2024-12-01
Series:Media + Environment
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1525/001c.125744
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author Richard A. Carter
author_facet Richard A. Carter
author_sort Richard A. Carter
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description Can the act of gliding perform also as an act of writing? The sweeping movements of a glider aircraft through the sky already inscribe a range of transient, circular traces—an asemic script that is written at the intersection between wind, wing, and piloting ability. Can these gestures provide the basis for more complex acts of inscription, in which human and atmospheric agencies combine to parse the vital experience of flight into poetry? Lines of Flight is a series of volumetric poems depicting the entanglements of wind, wing, and flying technique that constitute the airborne encounter. This creative-critical piece visualises a number of tracked glider flights in three dimensions, and uses this tracking data to generate a lexical poem along the route taken. As a form of inscription enabled through a multitude of intersecting airborne forces and volumes, this project enacts a creative-critical exploration of what writing the air can tell us about human relationships with the more-than-human world.
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spelling doaj-art-0bb3da774255456582c382f8b0e4e7e82025-08-20T02:40:32ZengUniversity of California PressMedia + Environment2640-97472024-12-016210.1525/001c.125744Lines of FlightRichard A. CarterCan the act of gliding perform also as an act of writing? The sweeping movements of a glider aircraft through the sky already inscribe a range of transient, circular traces—an asemic script that is written at the intersection between wind, wing, and piloting ability. Can these gestures provide the basis for more complex acts of inscription, in which human and atmospheric agencies combine to parse the vital experience of flight into poetry? Lines of Flight is a series of volumetric poems depicting the entanglements of wind, wing, and flying technique that constitute the airborne encounter. This creative-critical piece visualises a number of tracked glider flights in three dimensions, and uses this tracking data to generate a lexical poem along the route taken. As a form of inscription enabled through a multitude of intersecting airborne forces and volumes, this project enacts a creative-critical exploration of what writing the air can tell us about human relationships with the more-than-human world.https://doi.org/10.1525/001c.125744
spellingShingle Richard A. Carter
Lines of Flight
Media + Environment
title Lines of Flight
title_full Lines of Flight
title_fullStr Lines of Flight
title_full_unstemmed Lines of Flight
title_short Lines of Flight
title_sort lines of flight
url https://doi.org/10.1525/001c.125744
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