Virtual Textual

Our gallery exhibition, Virtual Textual, explores the digital aspects of game-based poetry, bringing together artists from across the globe in an exhibition that champions innovative, but also careful uses of technology. All the pieces in the exhibition employ lower impact technology – low draw graphics, limited palettes, local-only connections – and easily accessible interfaces across a collection of ludic digital poetic works.

The works in Virtual Textual consider the ways in which the reader is an essential part in how a text exists in space, and how that text can shift, becoming entirely new with each instance that it is encountered. Participants will discover that reading is no longer a passive act but a dynamic and immersive experience.

At the heart of the exhibition is the Playing Poetry and Phoenix co-commissioned work Wood Wide Web, a lo-fi cottage-commodore-core poetic walking simulator that senses its surroundings. Audiences can become co-creators in an ever-growing piece of poetic nature writing that alters itself depending on the happiness of the plants around it.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a programme of workshops from visiting and local artists, opportunities for audiences to make their own games, and a published pamphlet delving into the exhibition and collecting new game-based works that readers can explore beyond the space.