Interactive Poetry Installations (2021)
These two pieces were a collaboration with writer Charlotte Wetton, and were commisioned by Future Everything and The Writing Squad for Manchester City of Literature’s Festival of Libraries.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/045e6dd2ccd72f359fe64d4aadbc9a366954241cabcf77ce2eabed6faee59f53/FOL_0681.jpg)
Charlotte wrote two poems celebrating the role of libraries and librarians, and I realised these poems as interactive installations.
I created some software that would track the movements of passers-by using an infrared camera, and reshape the poem into the shape of their movements.
I created some software that would track the movements of passers-by using an infrared camera, and reshape the poem into the shape of their movements.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b10b17bb80a95f222a01504afb38da0abe05a52858f51f80bfd070d15c685e05/FOL_0686.jpg)
We were very lucky to have both poems hosted in the windows of Manchester Central Library.
Autodidact
This poem was a tribute to the many many people who teach themselves new skills in libraries, and the libraries that allow this to happen. This poem took input from a Kinect camera and reformed the poem to fit the shape of whoever is reading it.
The Librarian Conducts A Reference Interview
This poem told the story of a young library patron being guided towards a book that might suit their purposes by a librarian in a dramatic fashion.
As people, trams, and animals moved by, a camera tracked their motion and used this movement to ‘push’ the lines to the left and right.