Ron Silliman, as discussed in class is very into the idea of streaming data and the human interaction. We, as humans, often avoid the idea of intangible streams of data and try to freeze things, like pictures do, in order to deal with it, this incomprehension of what real life is. Society, to this day, is irrational, and we can look at some of the absurdist art movement work (from the 50's) in order to see how they dealt with it. Specifically the theatre of the absurd played a huge part in the reflection of modern life during that time- for an example through Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" click here. Essentially it was a way to deal with the absurdity of real life.
The idea that theatre remained one of the most widely used mediums for absurd art shows situations immense importance. Again, we must assume that theatre is the construction and replication of situations in order to express an idea. In fact, situations are often more telling than anything that can be painted or captured in a photograph. It also is a lot easier to mimic the speed and stream of real life through a medium that utilizes real life.
As time passed, so has absurd art-in fact it is possible that it has lost its meaning completely. Here's a link to a blog that is constantly updating with modern day absurd art. Mostly it deals with celebrity absurdity, but it's quite interesting to see such a different type of absurd art. It also deals very little with situation, other than the fact that it is pretty much commentary on the social situation that exists in society today.
We can also go all the way back to 1896, and the production of the play "Ubu Roi," a precursor to the absurdist movement. Its humor took stabs at the bourgeois and the situation of the society during that point in time.
It's not far off when we look at Silliman's book, mostly because his poem goes to great lengths in trying to cope with the absurdity of modern life. Experience, we are told, comes all at once and it is incredible difficult to channel it the way that the absurdist movement people did. Silliman's book doesn't grapple with situation all that much, but is an ode to a movement that used situation in ways that were larger than life; maybe just a reflection of life.
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