“Carving in Possibilities,” by Deena Larsen, allows the user to reveal the face of Michelangelo’s David by moving the cursor over the blurry image of the statue.  As the user moves the cursor over the image, speculations appear about David concerning the crowd watching David and Goliath, the sculptor, and the crowds viewing the sculpture. Staccato sounds accompany the instantly appearing text, and the sounds are similar to those of someone carving stone.

Upon reading the description for this new media, I thought I would be creating a different image with each movement of the mouse. I thought this because the description says “carve though thoughts.”  I figure that realistically, you cannot carve a statue exactly the same each time, so I thought this would reflect that assumption. After playing twice, I realized that I was only revealing an image. If it were not for the sounds accompanying each movement of the cursor, the user may forget that he/she is “carving” the image. These pounding sounds are representative of steel carving stone, and illustrate the process of transforming a shapeless rock into a statue with a human form.

This work supports the idea that a “picture is worth a thousand words,” thus having unlimited interpretations and meanings depending on the reader’s experiences, knowledge, and even his/her mood. The user is able to “carve out” different textual combinations and readings of the poem through choice and exploration. Each thought appears one by one and in no specific sequence or logical order. The user is constantly wondering the context to these thoughts, trying to link one thought with the next to find out more and more about David. Also, the thoughts appear in various colors, sizes, and fonts, which might indicate different voices.

This explorative approach allows the user to create a new meaning from each thought. “Carving in Possibilities” is not meant to reveal a meaning, but to enable the user to discover new reading paths and to experience how these readings can transform. The reader experiences acts of continual transformation, evolution, and change, in both the text and the meaning. Also, this work shows how readers can gain knowledge from the same work in different ways, and communicates that readers can interpret a work in multiple ways—neither interpretation being incorrect. Each time we create a meaning for a piece of art or writing, we are extending the legacy of that work, and thus the memory of the author or story behind the physical work. Therefore, “Carving in Possibilities” demonstrates that a person’s legacy and memory can survive through art and writing because the readers of that work will create their own interpretations and meaning based on their choices, experiences, and knowledge. Each time we revisit a piece of art, we discover stories and reveal new realities that help to solidify the existence of the physical piece of work and establish the identity and memory of the author.