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Visual Thesaurus >> Mark Tinkler ---------------------- ||| HIAFF 3.0 | university of colorado | department of art and art history | digital arts area | in conjunction with alt-x | atlas | blurr intro artwork profile (Mark Tinkler) reviews ------------------------ < image.mapping [Intro] Visual Thesaurus is a is a tool that accesses data and generates a visual representation of the data via Java applets (Maplets), as a method of visualizing verbal associations of meaning, in the exact same way as the traditional thesaurus guides us through these associations that is already so very familiar. Its inclusion into the art world has been somewhat controversial. The project was developed as a commercial interface and never proclaimed to be "art", however, viewers have found it to be an engaging interface that successfully creates relationships between language through user interaction. The work combines artistic statement and learning to create an experience that is rewarding from both a linguistic and an aesthetic perspective. Visual Thesaurus is a good example of a project that can be an enjoyable experience as an artwork even if the creators do not claim it to be art.