Poetry in Motion

NCSA’s partnership with Pygmalion for the last several years has continued to produce unique opportunities to see the blending of science and art. This year’s event was no exception, with the show highlighting the Center’s commitment to the community we operate in as well as our connection to the arts and humanities. This year, NCSA experts in advanced visualization used their skills to help create an accompanying visual spectacle for several local poets and musicians.

The Words and Wizardry event on the first official day of the annual Pygmalion festival, showcased local poets who provided spoken-word pieces to play between musical sets by Pygmalion musicians. These spoken-word interludes were accompanied by visualizations created by Jeff Carpenter and Stuart Levy. The intimacy of the space paired well with selections of poems that Ja Nelle Davenport-Pleasure, Amie Whittemore and Michael VanCalbergh each shared, against the backdrop of a stunning selection of visualizations that were cleverly double-projected onto the screen and wall behind the poets.

Setting the stage in the Channing Murray Foundation, the old church building was lit from within before the event began. The visualization team had created an elaborate backdrop for the singers and the poets, with images evoking a stained glass appearance shaped to match the architecture of the church. There were recorded readings, and live readings, timed to the images lighting up the walls behind the stage.

The event opened with a recording of VanCalbergh reading his poem, “A Creation Myth.” “We were asked to pick a piece that could connect with the type of video/music that was going to be used to accompany the poetry,” he said. “This poem is one that I’m particularly attached to as it uses various creation myths as jumping off point for me exploring my place in the cosmic structure.”

Whittemore, the second poet to read that evening, selected three poems from her book, Star-Tent: A Triptych. Attendees were treated to the poems “Letter to the Aliens, #9,” “First Transmission from the Indestructible Observer,” and “The Indestructible Observer Considers Nature of Mind.” Whittemore consulted with the visualization experts and chose three space-themed poems to match the videos.

Ja Nelle Davenport-Pleasure was the final poet to read between sets, and came prepared with five poems to read: “Collision and Grace,” “Superstorm Rhythm,” “Whispers to the Quasar,” “Cosmic Blues,” and “Round and Round.” Pleasure chose poems to showcase themes that are echoed in the visualization work NCSA’s experts provided.

“[My poem choices] all come down to my fascination with the interplay of space and movement,” Davenport-Pleasure said. “I believe that poetry, much like the cosmos, thrives on a certain fluidity and flow. Just as space isn’t static but full of dynamic movement, the rhythm and movement in words can evoke a spectrum of emotions and connections. It’s about creating an experience that feels expansive and immersive. The titles of the pieces I selected – ”Collision and Grace,” “Superstorm Rhythm,” “Whispers to the Quasar,” “Cosmic Blues,” and “Round and Round” – reflect this very concept. They are meant to resonate with the boundless nature of space and the graceful dance of words, inviting you to explore and connect in ways that are as infinite and varied as the universe itself.”

Getting everything prepared for this event took collaboration between the poets and the AVL team, and a fairly elaborate setup at the venue. “Our team began by providing a selection of visualizations to spark ideas among the poets,” said Jeff Carpenter, research visualization designer. “Once they settled on which visuals they wanted to pair with their poetry, I edited the sequences together, retiming and adding titles and credits. Working with projection designer Jake Metz, we set up a screen to rear-project the video and then added a second projector from the far side of the room to fill the entire wall behind the poets and musicians with visuals. During the live show, the video clips were processed through a chain of computers, taking audio from the soundboard to modify brightness, color and adding other effects in real time to the visualizations before passing them to Jake’s projection. In addition to the work I did with the poets, I was thrilled to revive a small bit of my collaboration with Mikel Rouse and ‘Gravity Radio.’” 

Overall, the event was another success, with the room filled up to capacity to witness this one-of-a-kind synchronicity of art and science. “I’m just overjoyed and honored to be a part of this process,” said VanCalbergh. “The work that was done to accompany the poem was absolutely stunning and the passion of everyone involved is clear and infectious.”

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The National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign provides supercomputing, expertise and advanced digital resources for the nation’s science enterprise. At NCSA, University of Illinois faculty, staff, students and collaborators from around the globe use innovative resources to address research challenges for the benefit of science and society. NCSA has been assisting many of the world’s industry giants for over 35 years by bringing industry, researchers and students together to solve grand challenges at rapid speed and scale.