This essay was first printed in 1983. It predicts several things which are a reality now in the year 2000 with the Internet, which Lanham does not write about here. The essay, in general, is predictive. A disruptive exhibit at the Tate gallery makes silence seem part of the act .
Silence is no longer given, it becomes artifice.
The Running Fence exhibit 1972 in California, by Christo Javacheff mimics the illusive nature of the subject in the world. The piece of art takes 3 years to go up and stretches 24.5 miles. It is destroyed 2 weeks after it is completely. It signifies evolution and the changeability of Man and his landscape. Electronic text does the name for the codex book.