"Failed Poet"
The frustration of writer’s block, opposed to popular belief, is less of a blank frustration and more of a cacophony of ideas (typically bad ones) that abruptly start and stop in a dreaded, internal symphony. “Failed Poet” attempts to visualize writer’s block by animating the popping in and out of ideas (short poems). These poems appear and disappear in overlapping visual and audible space and time to create a multi-sensory confusion that results in (hopefully) interesting noise.
The spacing of the audio is quite deliberate and certain passages are more easily to decipher than others. Occasional breaks in the audio, as well as the waxing and waning of the entire piece, allow for moments of clarity. But, even these moments are not quite so clear. The base sound for the entire piece is yet another four layers of writerly (and therefore userly) distraction: the frantic flipping of papers, typing, poetry definitions, and whispering anxieties. While each of these sounds overlap to create the base cadence of the piece they represent two distinct functions of the writing process: the creation of the poetry (typing and functional definitions) and the reading/acceptance of the poetry (internal anxieties and poetic dislocation). The reading of the poems is more straightforward, but the multiple layers of sound heighten the layers underlying distress. The base sound continues as the poems end in hopes to represent the ever-present (even if slight) current of anxiety and one’s artistic place in the world—after the storm.
The visual aspects of the project complement the sound in various ways. The ever-present background has a duel purpose which involves representing the opening and closing of the narrative—much like a book cover—enclosing the action within its title and design, and it also serves to visually represent the base layers of sound. As the background slowly fades the piece peaks with multiple poems and layers of sound present in the space. The background is still present though—only giving way to the chaos for a brief period of time before it resumes its bold place on the screen. This visual ebb helps to slightly reduce the visual noise towards the middle of the piece and serves as a constant reminder of the anxiety and stress that the entire piece represents. The color scheme is muted and blue to set the somber tone and also acts as a visual blueprint of sorts where the poems are placed and removed.
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