tetra 123:

The concept for this study is the outward expansion of a four-node enclosed link space. The core or seed layer in the center is delveloped and elaborated upon by the succedding layers. I visualized it something like this:

  • Each layer is an expansion of the layer inside of it and each node has a reference to a node on another layer. In this experiment, the four colors represent the reference of nodes from one layer to the next.

  • The idea is that the development of a complex thought pattern is incorporated in the presentation of the thought. Process and product are there, each available for scrutiny, critique, and understanding.

  • At a certain layer of development, it is conceivable that a node would then contain its own link space. Would the node from the lower layer link to the core layer of this nested link space, or would the lower node link to the outer layer of the nested space? I think the latter, allowing a development of the initial interrelation of ideas while providing an opportunity to drill down in the growth of a particular complex node.

  • In practice, the chronology of linking leads to a diagram more like this:


  • Conceptually, each group is nested inside of another.
  • Start with blocks. One block leads to words. One word leads to directives.
  • As directives lead to stories, stories are made of other layers.
  • The act of hitting links creates an actual chronology, a linearity.


Within an enclosed link space, the goal is to create images or write passages that make meaning, no matter which is the next hit. This is not the dada of haphazard juxtapositions; it is the dada of deeply considered interconnection.

The most dynamic would be to randomize the links within the enclosed link space.
23 sept 1998
amos satterlee