Alan Sondheim

Alan Sondheim is a theorist and poet whose work largely concentrates on the internet and the virtual. On being asked to describe how he thinks of himself between the distinctions of artist, writer, digital writer, etc, he noted:

I fall somewhere ‘between’ literature, music, art, performance, video, computer art and film; as a result, I’m not part of any of these communities. To me, my work is coherent because of themes, sensibility, intensity, philosophical concerns; the medium per se is of secondary performance. In terms of identification, then, I honestly don’t know ‘what’ I am (although I hope I know ‘who’ I am). I work ‘with’ specific areas, not ‘within’ them. I remember years and years ago, on the same day – Vito Acconci telling me he had finally realized I’m not an artist – and Laurie Anderson telling me she had finally realized I was.

His written works include the anthology Being on Line: Net Subjectivity, Disorders of the Real, .echo, The Wayward, and his online work Internet Text, which has has been continually working on since 1994.

Sondheim is the moderator of several email lists, including Cybermind, Wryting and Cyberculture. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.