This project sought to explore the impact of the city’s complexity on communication within it through the use of poetry. This involved addressing two issues: the definition/delineation/characterization of the space we call the city, and the provision of a voice to its inhabitants in forming such a definition.

A constructive aspect undertook both of these issues, by not only creating an instantaneous arena of exchange allowing discourse within the city, but also by using that environment to express the thoughts and feelings of the participants. A performance was staged in a location with high pedestrian traffic in downtown Toronto, where the public was invited to interact with a set of words to construct phrases and messages. These expressions, undoubtedly influenced by the urban environment, serve as commentary on and characterization of the city itself.

A deconstructive aspect, which involved surreptitiously placing small stickers with lines of poetry relevant to the city in various locations, contrasted the approach of the constructive component in both meaning and form. These poetic stickers were more concerned with personal reflection, and the interaction, if any, that occurs when an individual happens to discover and interpret one in the context of its location.

Central to the concept of this project was that it did not create or communicate a prescribed meaning, but rather presented a framework for viewers and participants to create meaning themselves.

Presented at NC State University's 2010 Graduate Design Symposium as part of Amateur Vandals: Graphic Interventions in the City.