Immerse yourself in local poetry at the Public Poetry Remix Opening. Join us to celebrate Poet Laureate Marie Metaphor Specht and her curated collection of six poets selected to animate the Yates Street Parkade Musical Railings staircase with their work.
Enjoy artist talks, light refreshments, interactive art and the magic of spoken word.
Featuring Poetry by: Blair Wilkinson, Eva Hass, John Rockford, Andrea Scott, SJ Valiquette, Judy Woo and Marie Metaphor Specht. Learn more about the selected poets here.
Project Background:
Marie Metaphor Specht's 'Public Poetry Remix,' is an immersive art project produced with Monkey-C Interactive. Starting November 20, the Musical Railings art installation in the Yates Street Parkade will be animated by cut-up poems from seven poets, including the Poet Laureate and Youth Poet Laureate.
Musical Railings is installed on the five-story staircase on the south side of the Yates Street Parkade and transforms the staircase into a five-storey-tall musical instrument. Visitors can touch the sensors embedded in the railings to create sounds and play loops accompanied by sound-responsive LED lighting.
A traditional cut-up involves cutting words and phrases out of a complete text and rearranging them into a new text. In the context of this project, participants will be ‘cutting up’ the audio recordings of each of the selected poems by touching the sensors in the railings of the staircase. When they hold a sensor, one line from a recorded poem will play. They can touch the sensors in any order. This piece will be on display for three months.