RALEIGH, NC—March 24, 2017—The Poetry Society of New York (poetrysocietyny.org), producers of The Poetry Brothel (thepoetrybrothel.com) and the New York City Poetry Festival (newyorkcitypoetryfestival.com) along with Raleigh’s Midtown Events (northhills.com/events) and Quail Ridge Books (quailridgebooks.com), are pleased to announce the launch of their interactive public arts initiative, THE TYPEWRITER PROJECT: THE SUBCONSCIOUS OF THE CITY. The project will open to the public on April 1 at 9am and remain open to the public through April 30th at 5pm. The project’s hours of operation will be Monday-Sunday, 9:00am-7:30pm.
The Typewriter Project is a series of site-specific literary installations which invite passerby to join in a citywide linguistic exchange that exists in both the analog and digital realms. These typewriter booths are each outfitted with a vintage typewriter, 100-foot long paper scroll, and a custom-built USB Typewriter TM kit, which allows every keystroke to be collected, stored, and posted online for users to read, share, and comment upon. The project is largely inspired by the idea of an Exquisite Corpse, a surrealist writing game in which several authors contribute to one poem. Obviously each entry in The Typewriter Project can be its own distinct lyric, but we hope that users will also be influenced by what was written before them on the scroll. By creating a new and unique form of public dialogue, this project hopes to capture something of the sound, narrative, and nuance of specific corners of the city. The Typewriter Project’s mission is to investigate, document, and preserve the poetic subconscious of the city while providing a fun and interactive means for the public to engage with the written word.
Quail Ridge Books plans to invite students from neighborhood schools, customers, visiting authors, aspiring writers and passersby to take advantage of the opportunity to express themselves through the Typewriter Project installation. Lisa Poole, owner of Quail Ridge Books said, “We are very excited to be sponsoring the Typewriter Project in Raleigh. We hope it will spark a new community dialogue. We want to let people know it is a community literature project and that everyone can be a writer or poet. It’s very appropriate that it will be here for Independent Bookstore Day on April 29th which is a huge national celebration of indie bookstores.”
Dedicated to furthering art of all forms, Midtown Events, an entity of Kane Realty, welcomes The Typewriter Project to North Hills. Responsible also for all temporary art installations in vacant merchant spaces, property-wide murals, and all events and branding in outdoor spaces developed by Kane, Midtown Events advances the appreciation of all public art at North Hills.
On Exhibition: 1 April- 30 April
Location: Lassiter District, North Hills (Near Quail Ridge Books)
