Louis Bec
Institut Scientifique de Recherche Paranaturaliste, France
Louis Bec was born in Algeria in 1936. As a zoosystemician and researcher her describes artificial life from the angle of epistemology appealing to the methodological side of modeling, bioinformatics and technozoosemiotics. Publications: "Vampyroteuthis Infernalis" (with V.Flusser, Göttingen, 1988), "Elements D'Epistemologie Fabulatoire" (ed. by C.Langton, Santa Fe: 1990), "Elements D'Hypozoologie" (G.Pompidou Centre, Paris, 1993), "Esthetique Du Renfloue" (ed. by P.Weibel, Munich-Vienna, 1993), "La Vie Artificielle Comme Machination" (Ars Electronica, Linz, 1993), "Des Systemes Technozoologiques Comme Fabulation" (French Institute, Bilbao, 1996). Chief curator of "Le Vivant Et L'Artificiel" (Avignon 1984), Art/Cognition" (Aix en Provence 1992), "Emaitre" (Moscow-Genoa 1996-99) and "AVIGNONumeriqie / Les Mutalogues" (Avignon - the Cultural Capital of Europe, 2000), as well as "E-agora" and "Alterne" (London, Lausanne, Graz, Amsterdam, Marseilles and others, 2002-05). Founder and president of the Research Institute of Paranaturalistics (Sorgues 1972). Research in the field of artificial life conducted in collaboration with the French National Science Centre (CNRS), the Laboratory of Photon Researches at the Strasbourg University (ENSPS/ARTCAPI), the Biology Laboratory at the University of Grenoble and others.
Articles of Louis Bec
Vampyroteuthis infernalis. Postscriptum
Vampyroteuthis infernalis is perhaps the most important, certainly the most public, result of Bec’s and Flusser’s collaboration that lasted for more than fifteen years. Bec here presents the starting points of the publication and what the different zoosystemic plates included were supposed to signal. Each one of the abysmal creatures invented by Bec is supposed to mirror a different aspect of Flusser’s thinking.
Les gestes prolongés. Postface
Bec explores the significance of gestures in Flusser’s work, linking them to Flusser’s writing activity as well as to Flusser himself. Through his gestures, his gesticulating, he moved to move others. The world manifests itself in gestures. New gestures may appear, influencing and changing how we relate to reality. The new gestures of photographing, filming, and videotaping will alter our ways of existence in that they anticipate a new cybernetic form of life.
3. Vilém Flusser 1920 / 1991
This text tells the story of a long and productive friendship: the first encounters between Flusser and Bec, their ritualized Saturday afternoon conversations, their common interests. It also tells the story of their trip to Prague in 1986. The text ends with a description of Bec’s and Flusser’s most important project – Vampyroteuthis infernalis (1987) – thereby introducing the reader to the following two essays.
