POETRY AS AN INVASION
25 years of José Aburto's work and the development of E-literature in Peru
The work of José Aburto in hypermedia poetry is directly connected to the adoption of different technologies over the past 25 years in Peru, a country on the outskirts of centres of power. The history of his creative processes bears indelible marks on how these technologies transitioned from being a curiosity to becoming part of the daily life of Peruvians.
In parallel, his work also reflects the development of a series of ecosystems of electronic literature writers. As new technologies became accessible to a population with precarious connectivity, these writers began inventing a new way of creating literature.
The adoption of electronic literature in Peru signified the arrival of popular avant-gardes via the Internet, as Keneth Goldsmith described in his essays on uncreative writing, envisioning a scenario where "poetry can be made by everyone." This meant that literary creation was no longer confined exclusively to artists' circles but was accessible to anyone with a smartphone and the time to write and post.
This new era of writing in Peru recalls the visions of Another Possible World by British thinker Mark Fisher and his assertions about latent popular modernism in mass-consumption artefacts: a timeline where pop does not anaesthetize us but liberates us, a pop art that is not condescending. Peruvian electronic writing fulfils these proposals, filled with anonymous characters appearing and disappearing within the mists of likes.
This analysis aims to use José Aburto's work as a lens for a broader reflection. It revisits the actors who have shaped what we consider electronic literature in Peru to uncover the role digital media plays in the collective imagination of Peruvians. This research is part of the curatorial process for the retrospective exhibition La poesía es una invasión, set to be presented in November 2024 at the Contemporary Art Museum of Lima, one of the more important artistic centres in the country.
Poet defined by his continuous experimentation with different formats, supports, and writing methods that reinterpret the poetic work from his own perspective: interactive, technological, and personal. Whether as a professor, cultural promoter, or communications professional, his work has been dedicated to exploring the possibilities of the digital realm and their impact on different forms of expression.
