ABSTRACT
Intersemiotic translation can be described as a “cognitive pump”, a cognitive artefact, or a thinking tool that is designed to scaffold and distribute artistic creativity. Thinking tools (physical and virtual tools employed by cognitive systems) are part of the material and cultural niches of human cognition. We describe intersemiotic translation as such a thinking tool. How does it work? As an anticipatory augmented intelligence technique, intersemiotic translation works as an anticipatory and predictive tool; it anticipates new, unexpected events and patterns of semiotic behaviour and keeps the emergence of new patterns under control. From this perspective, intersemiotic translation decreases the cost of choice for an agent (artist) operating in a cognitive niche by increasing the predictability of the emergence of patterns of semiotic behaviour in that niche. At the same time, it works as a generative model, providing new, unexpected, surprising data in the target system and affording competing results that allow the system to generate candidate instances. From this perspective, intersemiotic translation increases the complexity of the cognitive niche. We explore these ideas here, taking advantage of an example of an intersemiotic translation of Gertrude Stein’s experimental prose to theatrical dance.
