Published: March 1, 2025

I sit here at my desk about two weeks before my first Versescape at Philadelphia Small Works Gallery, embracing how surreal it all feels. What started as what I thought would be a one night event with me and projector, morphed into something else entirely. 

Going into this opportunity with the gallery, I thought I was rethinking poetry readings, little did I know I was constructing rules to what it looks like to build environments with words. 

I will be unveiling Experiential Language Architecture (ELA), a conceptual framework I’ve developed from my own writing. I want to share a bit of how I got here. I had my first interview with Artblog yesterday, a local Philadelphia art community, so I figure it’s time for me to state in my own words, what it is I’ve created.

Early on as I began to take my writing more seriously, I noticed I would have an emotional connection I was trying to recreate through the words in my poems. They also had a musical feel you could hear when read or performed aloud. This unique trait stood out to others when I would perform or share my poems visually. After listening to my recordings of myself performing my poems for my first poetry EP, “Thoughts and Feelings About BEing HUMAN”, I came up with the name “a cappella poetry” for the way that I was combining the two concepts. It was something you could hear. With refinement, I came to define the corer principles of a cappella poetry, distinguishing it from spoken word or more traditional poetry.

As I was sharing my poetry, I was developing my initial hoodies with my a cappella poems and their designs embroidered into them. At first I assumed what I was doing was streetwear, but after considering how I was developing something that was in itself hard to categorize with ADSS, figured I could step outside that narrow lane. My hoodies are now part of “Literary Fashion”. 

The Versescape pieces came last. First, in the summer of 2024. I came up with a unique performance cyle that would include audience engagement, and technology. A performance framework that would allow for the visual aspects of my poetry to be seen. 

I drafted an email and began to pitch this to local art institutions and performance spaces. I happened to have the opportunity to pitch the idea to the co-director of Small Works Gallery at one of their events, and this upcoming Versescape opportunity came about.

At first all I had was this performance framework, and after my first conversation with the co-directors, once they told me they would be willing to take the art off th walls for what I was planning, my mind began to flood with ideas.

Ideas that would take the Versescape from a performance framework to a complete poetry environment.

As I had these three unique innovations, all tied to ADSS, I began to consider what united them all. I described the aspects of a cappella poetry, how I created poetry hoodies, and my plans for the Versescape, and used AI to help me find the connections. I described each of the aspects, and through the aid of AI, I was able to put the final touches on the connections.

That's when Experiential Language Architecture (ELA) was born.

ELA is a generative framework that treats words as architectural elements, to build transformative experiences. At first, upon knowing that ELA felt appropriate for the creations I was innovating, I knew I was in the right space, but I wasn’t sure how well I could articulate it. I would refine my thinking and ideas with conversations with AI tools, as well as further thought into how each one of the aspects of the Versescape align with ELA principles. From the art installations, to the immersive experiences, to the performance, each aspect uses worlds as the building blocks for interaction and immersion, dissolving the boundary between artist and audience. 

There’s exciting potential for ELA beyond Versescapes. The performance framework alone could create new opportunities in classrooms. Versescapes and ELA could extend into education, storytelling, therapy, marketing, and even technology.

The future is vast, with ELA. 

And now

It’s all about

Building. 

ADSS

Come to my first Versescape, “Thoughts and Feelings About BEing HUMAN”, An ADSS Versescape Experience, at Philadelphia Small Works Gallery. 

Eventbrite

Follow my journey on Instagram. [@adssdesigns]