Artwork Description:

Spam Poetry is a series of knitted works containing visual poetry from collected spam. The process consists of 2 main parts:

1. Generating poetry from collected SPAM

2. Modifying an electronic knitting machine in order to give SPAM Poetry a knitted form. Concerning the concept, we are interested in bringing together digital culture and traditional handicraft. To be more specific, the idea is to experiment with the form and meaning of SPAM. We turn SPAM into a romantic, funny or even sarcastic poetry and present it in unusual tangible form as knitted garment. We call the final result a dysfunctional wearable, because it reminds us of a sweater but is not really one. Like SPAM, our dysfunctional wearable does not have a purpose. Talking about the form of artworks, one is able to recognize sweater parts in unusual position and size.

Coming back to SPAM, it is generated automatically nowadays. Hence, we aim to apply the same technique for recycling it, generating poetry from SPAM algorithmically, converting into a pattern and uploading to the knitting machine. Of course, the process of knitting is done manually. Thus, we create a contrast between rapid and overwhelming digital world and slow, careful knitting process.

Courtesy of the artist