Spaces Speak is a panel presentation to raise awareness and enlist participation in (RE)VERB an Audio AR ‘zine for e-lit writers/artists. (RE)VERB is an audio augmented reality zine dedicated to spatially conceived electronic literature projects that explore the aesthetic possibilities of sonically delivered language engaging with the physical and corporeal experience of the environment. As a publication (RE)VERB was inspired by the Emerging Spaces for E-Lit Creations initiative to expand works that engage with popular social media spaces.
Spaces Speak will consist of five presenters including editorial board members, the guest curator for issue one and artists who created work for the first issue. The artists and curators will discuss the challenges and rewards for producing site-specific work and the concepts driving their creative decisions.
The panel will also feature an overview of the goals and artistic vision for the ‘zine. A discussion of the first issue, with a sneak-peak/advanced listen to excerpts from the forthcoming ‘zine to be released in June 2021. Other details discussed will include the release schedule for future issues, explanations for how listeners can access content, integration with social media platforms and how e-lit community members can participate in upcoming issues.
In addition, Spaces Speak will highlight the partnerships with organizations the ‘zine will be pursuing to participate in its open calls and curation (Eyebeam, NEW INC, AFROTECTOPIA, the New Media Caucus, Rhizome, Harvestworks, and AudioAR.org) for E-Lit to reach new audiences in related fields like new media art, internet art, sound art and audio AR.
The last segment of the panel discussion will be an open dialog with the ELO community to hear the directions they would like the ‘zine to pursue, what might be compelling thematic topics and locations, what other organizations should we include in our outreach and who they would suggest for international curators and artists for future issues as we continue to expand the global reach of the ‘zine.
In relation to the conference themes, the (RE)VERB ‘zine can be seen as a case study of a third space, instead of a large corporate behemoth platform siloed from the content or individualistic artist vision, (RE)VERB is a partnership between publication and platform, working in dialog with the Gesso, an AR platform dedicated to spatially conceived projects, to create a sustainable E-Lit creative space.
Taken as a whole, (RE)VERB enables electronic literature writers to engage with the sensorial experience of place, the granularity of the human voice and chance occurrences in the environment to provide an expansive opportunity for aesthetic experimentation and a vital co-mingling of creative communities. Spaces Speak provides an opportunity for an open exchange of ideas and an exploration for how all community members can be involved on any level of the project.