Super Atari Poetry is now a part of the collection of @themuseumofmodernart, expanding the dialogue between art and technology. Composed of three Atari 2600 consoles, custom-made Atari cartridges, joysticks, monitors, and modular furniture, Merhi reflects on the relationships between different types of language, the mechanisms of poetic interaction in the virtual world, the juxtaposition of visual and written codes, and the effects of technology on the process of socialization.
“It reassures me to know that the work will be cared for, preserved, studied, and exhibited; that the poems will be read and that people from different parts of the world will be able to experience a poetic encounter,” he states.
Super Atari Poetry is a multiplayer game installation that enables players to make about 1000 different poems. The work is made of 3 Atari 2600 consoles, joysticks, self-manufactured cartridges, and CRT TVs. Each cartridge contains a group of verses that are constantly changing colors which can be manipulated using a joystick. In this way, the audience can either freeze/move the colors or just move forward and backward the sentences. The reading of the 3 verses printed on the screens produces an interactive and coherent poem that’s always changing its meaning and chromatic structure.
Super Atari Poetry follows a non-lineal narrative system present in previous works such as The Poetic Clock, 1997; The Poetic Machine, 1998 and Poetic Dialogues, 2000-05. It is also attached to an exploration based in Atari 2600 consoles initiated by the artist in 1985. It has precedents in works like bin@ari, 1985; and the Atari Poetry series.
“It reassures me to know that the work will be cared for, preserved, studied, and exhibited; that the poems will be read and that people from different parts of the world will be able to experience a poetic encounter,” he states.
Super Atari Poetry is a multiplayer game installation that enables players to make about 1000 different poems. The work is made of 3 Atari 2600 consoles, joysticks, self-manufactured cartridges, and CRT TVs. Each cartridge contains a group of verses that are constantly changing colors which can be manipulated using a joystick. In this way, the audience can either freeze/move the colors or just move forward and backward the sentences. The reading of the 3 verses printed on the screens produces an interactive and coherent poem that’s always changing its meaning and chromatic structure.
Super Atari Poetry follows a non-lineal narrative system present in previous works such as The Poetic Clock, 1997; The Poetic Machine, 1998 and Poetic Dialogues, 2000-05. It is also attached to an exploration based in Atari 2600 consoles initiated by the artist in 1985. It has precedents in works like bin@ari, 1985; and the Atari Poetry series.
March 2, 2025