Poetics of the sensor
the transcription of space in time
Abstract
Drawing on the non-fictional writings of Georges Perec and the unoriginal poems of Kenneth Goldsmith, this article traces a common thread between writing practices and visual representation that construct visibility through the meticulous, repetitive recording of the city. It proposes a "sensor poetics," a mode of making that, departing from photography as index, extends unoriginal writing practices and contemporary art concerned with the operational image — images produced for technical use — to forensic architecture. In particular, it shows how this poetics is not merely a "realist" record but the revelation of a latent truth within the landscape, one constructed through the temporalization of space. Drawing on Jacques Rancière's conception of the distribution of the sensible as the elaboration of what can be perceived, it argues that sensor poetics operates politically by making visible marginalized and non-human agents of the city.
Downloads
References
BARTHES, R. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. Tradução: Richard Howard. New York: Hill; Wang, 1981.
BEIGUELMAN, G.; BAMBOZZI, L. Domingo no Golpe. Documentário. Acervos Digitais FAU USP,, 2024. Disponível em: <https://www.acervosdigitais.fau.usp.br/domingo-no-golpe-documentario/>
BENJAMIN, W. Magia e técnica, arte e política: ensaios sobre literatura e história da cultura. Tradução: Sergio Paulo Rouanet. 3. ed. São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1987. v. 1
BOIS, Y.-A. et al. On Forensic Architecture: A Conversation with Eyal Weizman. October, v. 156, p. 116–140, 2016.
BONCH-OSMOLOVSKAYA, T. Combinatorial Greetings from Georges Perec. Proceedings of bridges 2018: Mathematics, art, music, architecture, education, culture. Anais…2018.
CELANT, G. (ED.). Art Povera. 1. ed. [s.l.] Praeger Publishers, 1969. p. 240
GOLDSMITH, K. From (Command) Line to (Iconic) Constellation. E-Poetry 2001. Anais…2001. Disponível em: <https://www.ubu.com/papers/goldsmith_command.html>
GOLDSMITH, K. 10:00. Deluxe Rubber Chicken, v. 1, maio 1998.
GOLDSMITH, K. Uncreative writing. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2011.
KRAUSS, R. Notes on the Index: Seventies Art in America. October, v. 3, p. 68–81, 1977.
LEITE, L. F. DE S. Artista ou escritor conceitual? Algumas convergências entre Kenneth Goldsmith e Ulises Carrión. eLyra, v. 25, p. 149–167, jun. 2025.
MCCARTHY, T. A Reading by Novelist Tom McCarthy. Disponível em: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5OsI-c27bA>.
OCHSHORN, R. M.; REYNOLDS, A. A Bunch of Questions with No Answers. HD video, 23 hours 10 minutes,, 2025. Disponível em: <https://abunchofquestionswithnoanswers.com/>
PEREC, G. Species of Spaces and Other Pieces. Tradução: John Sturrock. London: Penguin Books, 1997.
PERLOFF, M. Uma conversa com Kenneth Goldsmith. Sibila, 2002.
PERLOFF, M. Unoriginal Genius: Poetry by Other Means in the New Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
RANCIÈRE, J. A partilha do sensível: estética e política. Tradução: Mônica Costa Netto. 1st. ed. São Paulo: EXO experimental org.; Ed. 34, 2005. p. 72
ROBBE-GRILLET, A. The Dressmaker’s Dummy. In: Snapshots. Tradução: Bruce Morrissette. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1986.
Copyright
Copyright (c) 2026 Cristobal Sciutto Rodríguez, Guilherme Wisnik
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
