the project

Typo is an interactive performance between an audience and a vintage typewriter that has a life of its own. Animated by hidden robotics and custom AI software, it writes and creates poetry and text in a dialogue with its human audience.

The mechanical typewriter is an anachronism, relegated to a bygone era, and yet is still a potent and recognised symbol of art and literature, of mechanisation and progress. By splicing together the digital and the analogue, the mechanical and the electronic, we breathe new life into the machine and turn it into the primary actor on stage, capable of responding to its surroundings and creating of its own accord. The machine becomes a focal point for interaction, and gives us the opportunity to give experiences that may previously have been purely digital (many forms of text-based interaction) a new physical dimension.

In the spirit of creating moments of wonder and astonishment, Typo offers audiences the chance to interact with an enigmatic machine, representative of a long history of literature and industry. No longer a simple tool, it gains a new role as an autonomous co-creator alongside its audience.

the artists

James Camilleri is a software engineer by day, but has experience in graphic and motion design, and is wildly passionate about the theatre, whether it's on stage as a performer or as part of a production team. With a burgeoning interest in generative digital art, he is keen on creating things that break out of the digital space and into the real world. (james@james.mt)

Evina Kipeni-Thalassinou is a visual and performance artist with major in painting. Her main interest is to create installations where the audience can experience wonder and magic. (evinakat2@hotmail.com)

the technology

Typo is open source! You can check out the code for the Raspberry-Pi-powered mechanics here, and the code for the web platform and APIs here.