Collective Verse is an audio/visual, interactive installation informed by the tradition of Japanese Renga—a practice in which multiple poets create a single poem. Collective Verse invites diverse participants, with an emphasis on the Meso-American community, to share their words and language within this political moment.
Collective Verse aspires to create a spiritually framed experience where participants can privately share their thoughts. What is revealed is the collective nature of our voice.
How it works
Through a guided process, participants anonymously write questions. These questions are then randomly answered by others. The answers then create a new poem.
The anonymity offers an opportunity for private expression and reflection. It offers an outlet for those who are at a loss for words.
Participants create the poem together.
Collective Verse aspires to create a spiritually framed experience where participants can privately share their thoughts. What is revealed is the collective nature of our voice
Selected, Generated, Collective Poems
The mother always remembers Sometimes they charge too much The ghosts dance The life with meaning Kind of intense Pretending to be flowers ***
Dead things, earth, and memories
Savior
The fertile soil and the roots of the trees
I think we will
***
Truth as concrete as sand
I left it back in Mexico. Ósea no se se está aquí o allá
You make me happy
Kind of intense
When I heard the waves
The sound of stillness
***
The Technology
Local and global participants submitted written prompts and responses on a mobile app connected to a website. Each response became a part of the collective poem projected on a wall. Each time a poem is displayed, another technology, Max/MSP, plays musical cues and atmospheric sounds gathered from field recordings of Westlake/MacArthur Park and Downtown Los Angeles.
The Music
Through the use of algorithmic processes, field recordings and music filled the gallery. You can listen to an excerpt here: