[HN Gopher] Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millenniu...
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       Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General
       Assembly (2021)
        
       Author : NaOH
       Score  : 45 points
       Date   : 2025-09-28 18:46 UTC (4 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (americanart.si.edu)
 (TXT) w3m dump (americanart.si.edu)
        
       | NaOH wrote:
       | The embedded video in this post is worthwhile, particularly for
       | the visuals of the artwork, but for those who'd prefer an
       | informative (short) article, there's one in a previous HN
       | submission about this that got no traction back in 2023.
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38683668
        
       | palmotea wrote:
       | > ...and a small book he kept, written primarily in an invented
       | or "asemic" script, meaning it is unreadable or lacking specific
       | semantic content.
       | 
       | Learned something new:
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asemic_writing:
       | 
       | > ...asemic writing distinguishes itself among traditions of
       | abstract art is in the asemic author's use of gestural
       | constraint, and the retention of physical characteristics of
       | writing such as lines and symbols.
       | 
       | Basically stuff that looks like writing but actually isn't.
       | Another example is Xu Bing's A Book from the Sky, which is
       | composed of things that look just like Chinese characters to
       | someone who can't read them, but aren't.
        
         | actionfromafar wrote:
         | I wonder if an LLM can "translate" that book into... something.
         | And if so, how faithful to the original is the translation?
        
           | DontchaKnowit wrote:
           | What? Can we start banning these kinds of "I wonder if an
           | LLM" comments?
        
             | actionfromafar wrote:
             | I actually thought it was an interesting thought, if the
             | "bullshitness" will hold between "translations" or if it
             | will hallucinate something which "makes more sense" than
             | the original. Or if it will just refuse because the chinese
             | letters just aren't close enough. I'm probably too bored.
             | :)
        
               | pavel_lishin wrote:
               | You cannot extract a signal that isn't there.
        
               | duskwuff wrote:
               | There's also a technical side to that problem - you can't
               | communicate the content of that book to a LLM as text,
               | because it's made up of invented characters. There's no
               | standard way to represent them to a computer.
        
           | palmotea wrote:
           | > I wonder if an LLM can "translate" that book into...
           | something.
           | 
           | Yes, of course. LLMs are bullshit machines.
           | 
           | > And if so, how faithful to the original is the translation?
           | 
           | Well, as faithful as total bullshit ever is.
        
         | duskwuff wrote:
         | Another Western example is Luigi Serafini's _Codex
         | Seraphinianus_ :
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Seraphinianus
        
       | mock-possum wrote:
       | I love outsider art. Love the idea that for some people, it isn't
       | about the 'art world' or about finding a community or an
       | audience... they simply have to go off by themselves somewhere
       | and CREATE
        
       | AftHurrahWinch wrote:
       | This was found posthumously in a rented garage. Imagine yourself
       | walking in to a windowless room, turning on the lights, and
       | seeing this.
        
       | dfxm12 wrote:
       | Considering the religious nature, and the fact that its creator
       | claims to have had a visitation from the divine, it's like
       | TempleOS in a way.
        
       | kkylin wrote:
       | Wikipedia has more details on the artist and the art:
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hampton_(artist)#Throne_...
       | 
       | I was trying to figure out how large this thing was (I found it
       | hard to tell from the picture). And wow -- a life-size throne.
       | Must go next time I'm in DC (if the government isn't shut down
       | :p).
        
       | frereubu wrote:
       | Does anyone know how big this is? Difficult to tell from photos
       | on a phone and the listing just says "dimensions variable".
        
         | jhbadger wrote:
         | I've seen it several times at the Smithsonian -- it's life
         | size, as in a person could sit on the central throne, and the
         | side pieces are as large as nightstands.
        
           | NaOH wrote:
           | The Wikipedia piece linked here in the comments says that
           | central throne is seven feet tall.
        
             | jhbadger wrote:
             | Yes, if you include the back of the chair
        
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       (page generated 2025-10-02 23:01 UTC)