Douglas Anthony Cooper

Douglas Anthony Cooper (born 1960 in Toronto) is a writer who lives in Manhattan. In 1994, he became the first novelist to serialize a novel on the World Wide Web (Delirium, which was published in book form in 1998). His novels are considered characteristic examples of metafiction. While he is sometimes classed with Southern Ontario Gothic, Cooper is more often compared to metaphysical novelists like Italo Calvino and Vladimir Nabokov. Cooper did graduate work in philosophy, as well as a short stint as an architecture student, and his novels address architectural themes, often from a theoretical perspective. Cooper has also written and photographed feature stories for newspapers and magazines, primarily on subjects related to travel, and he was the recipient of the 2003 Lowell Thomas Gold Medal from the Society of American Travel Writers.

Related Topics:
1960 - Toronto - Writer - Manhattan - 1994 - World Wide Web - 1998 - Metafiction - Southern Ontario Gothic - Italo Calvino - Vladimir Nabokov - Lowell Thomas

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During the nineties, Douglas Cooper became involved in electronic art, originally through collaborations with the architects Diller and Scofidio, then increasingly on his own. Much of his artistic output involves performance and installation. Cooper partnered with Peter Eisenman, for instance, one of the principle architects responsible for Deconstructivism, on a large-scale installation at the Milan Triennale. Most of these projects concern narrative, and the theory of narrative, although Cooper has increasingly focused on the plastic arts - in recent years, he has in fact used electronic media to generate paintings, and has experimented with manipulated digital photography. A thesis constantly reiterated in his work is the liquid distinction between media and genres: he has refused to recognize meaningful boundaries between writing, architecture, new media and painting, considering them in essence a single art form. It is an irony that his novels are perhaps best known to artists and architects.

Related Topics:
Electronic art - Diller and Scofidio - Peter Eisenman - Deconstructivism - New media

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