Publication with script, embedded
story and video, 2019.

“The variable clause of fire” is an experimental exploration of the boundaries between human language and programming language. This edition consists of a story, a video encoded in written form (base64), and a Python script.

The script’s output decodes the video and adds pseudo-real subtitles based on the story, while the script’s variables are crafted to align with the narrative, creating an unconventional language that does not hinder its functionality.

Drawing inspiration from Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s novel “In a Grove”, where the alternative identities and “voices” of his characters both describe and challenge established communication structures, “The variable clause of fire” presents a virtual historiography. It offers seven testimonies about a fire that started in a hotel. The unusual and sometimes incomprehensible programming language resonates with a “magical book” that enables the reader to summon the spirit of the fire, visualized through the video.

In Akutagawa’s story, a woodcutter discovers a murdered samurai and provides testimony in court alongside other witnesses. Each account clarifies and obscures the reader’s understanding of the murder, ultimately creating a complex and contradictory perspective on the events that questions humanity’s ability—or willingness—to perceive and convey objective truth. Truth is finally revealed through the testimony of a medium who summons the spirit of the murdered man, recounting the actual events.

The witnesses in “The variable clause of fire” act like Akutagawa’s characters, while the cause of the fire is revealed to the reader through a link accompanying the book, which allows for the video’s decoding.