Wood Wild Web
A Playing Poetry and Phoenix Leicester co-commission
As part of the Poetry Games exhibition at the National Poetry Library, Playing Poetry and Phoenix Cinema & Art Centre launched a commission to invite two artists to explore the intersection of poetic writing and game-making. Artists Mariana Marangoni and Rianna Suen collaborated over the course of two months, developing a joint practice looking at digital literacy, online communities and ecopoetics.
You can read their progress posts here:
Co-commission update 1: Tending the Digital Garden
Co-commission update 2: Wood Wide Web
Out of the commission, Marangoni and Suen, along with sound designer Mikey Parsons, developed a new game affectionally called Wood Wide Web. Part idyllic walking sim, part cottage-commodore-core pixel art generator, Wood Wide Web invites the player to tend to a digital world, planting seeds by writing poetic texts, which grow into trees and in turn spread to become entire forests.
Wood Wide Web Launch Event
Wood Wide Web launched in January 2023 at the National Poetry Library with a special exhibition build of the game. Housed in a 90s desktop tower teeming with plantlife, which affected the output of the game text, the game was presented to a sell out crowd of games enthusiasts and poetry fans alike.
Mariana Marangoni, Rianna Suen and Mikey Parsons joined exhibition curator Nick Murray for a conversation and about the game, and invited participants to add their poetic writing to the forest that grew through the night.
Wood Wide Web Launch Event
Photography by Will Webb