Processing Community Day Workshop: Small (or large) machines made of words

"A poem is a small (or large) machine made of words”, William Carlos Williams (1944)

In this workshop, we will use visual poetry techniques and writing constraints to create small (and large) machine[s] out of words, drawing inspiration from movements including Concrete Poetry and the Oulipo (Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle, combining writing and mathematics). We will spotlight the work of spatialist poet Ilse Garnier and experiment with both analogue and digital approaches (with p5.js). This workshop is open to those who feel comfortable with writing as well as those who usually avoid it. It can still be enjoyed with no previous coding experience.

About the facilitators:

Iris Colomb is a poet, artist, a curator and a lecturer in Computational Arts at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her creative practice involves searching for new ways of generating, deconstructing, performing and experiencing text through constraints, systems, experimental translation and improvisation. Her performance works have been showcased across the UK as well as in various international festivals. Her first solo exhibition, ‘Try! Try! Try! Again!’, featuring visual, sonic and performative pieces, was showcased by the Southbank Centre's National Poetry Library in 2025. Her poetry publications include five pamphlets, and her first full-length collection ‘Nothing Intensifies’ was published by Pamenar Press in 2025.

Jérémie Wenger is a Swiss writer based in London, and currently a lecturer in Computational Arts at Goldsmiths. His practice is rooted in Western modernism, postmodernism and the Oulipo, navigating the tensions between constraints, formalism, and the old, “traditional” craft of writing. Computational approaches, including machine learning techniques, broadened the scope of these enquiries, and brought an early reckoning with the consequences of the rise of AI for literature and the self. His texts appeared in gorse, minor literature[s], The New River, ToCall, xCoAx, and others. @jchwenger / jeremiewenger.com

The MA/MFA Computational Arts degree develops your arts practice through the expressive world of creative computation. Over a year (full-time) or two years (part-time) you will develop your artistic work and thinking through the challenge of developing a series of projects for public exhibition that will explore the technological and cultural ramifications of computation. You will learn the fundamentals of programming (p5.js, TouchDesigner, but also Arduino, MaxMSP, Python, C++) and how to apply this knowledge expressively. Since computational artworks don’t necessarily involve computers and screens, our students are also producing works using tools such as 3D printers, laser cutters, robotics, wearable technologies, paint, sculpture and textiles, supported by studio technicians in state-of-the-art facilities. You will also study contextual modules on computational art, the cultural histories of technology, as well as the socio-political effects of technology. Through our masterclass series, we regularly invite world-class artists and curators to explain their work and engage in critical dialogue with the students.

This workshop is part of Processing Community Day, we are prioritising young people aged between 18 and 25 years old who are not in employment and education.