Last Thursday I attended ‘In Our Corner’ – an open mic might at Bank Street Arts which highlighted the fact that politics is able to exist within innumerable defined spaces, including within creative practice. I already knew this, but what it highlighted was the concept of removing something from its original context and providing a platform for it to be assessed within a different space, thus drawing alternative conclusions.
Via a few leaps of logic, a few cups of tea and a few sessions of Final Fantasy IX I began to realise that my Pixel Poetry series organically aligns itself to the notion of removing something and placing it within a new space. Taking a game and turning it into a poem is able to create a space where video games can exist away from the trails of moral and political context: They may exist with purity and may well illustrate the original intent of their makers – as vehicles for fun, play and to harness the virtues of social experiences. Games are great, and my poetry seeks to highlight that; extending the experience into the physical world and allowing alternative conclusions to be drawn regarding the nature of video games, the themes within gaming and gamings effect on the human condition.
Equipped with this new found esteem, I set about conducting a job I’d intended to do for a while, but now with added personal reasoning: To write my poetry on the walls inside Electric Works, Sheffield:
My poetry on some walls. This is the first time it has existed in any tangible way.
This is the first time my poetry has existed in the physical world. It won’t be the last; with two of my poems and a zine containing my poems due to appear in PLAY! – an exhibition around the theme of video games due to open this coming Friday (3rd October.) I am also hoping to do readings of my poems within a poetry group at Eten Cafe, Sheffield, from the end of October.
I now feel armed with a strong reason to further my poetical endeavours. As a model, the fact that I am allowing gaming to exist within another space greatly intrigues me, and I wish to further this practice to see where it leads. Possibly even away from poetry and text works.
PLAY! will open on 3rd October at Access Space, Sheffield and will continue until 31st October. There is an opening event on Friday 3rd October from 5.30 – 8pm. Everyone is invited and it’s free! The exhibition promises to be fun, and may well just alter and further your perception of gaming and what gaming can be.