Author(s):
\nAmaranth Borsuk, Kate Durbin, and Ian Hatcher<\/p>\n
Abra is a magical poetry instrument\/spellbook for iOS. In this free app on iPad and iPhone,
\nreaders encounter a series of poems exploring themes of mutation and excess. The poems
\nthemselves are constantly in motion, mutating gradually from one to the next. Readers can
\ntake part in this process, touching words and watching them shift and undulate, casting
\nspells to set the text in motion, and grafting new words into the text, expanding Abra’s
\nvocabulary and introducing a lexicon of emoji and words in any character set on their device.
\nWe invite readers to make the text their own.
\nA collaboration between the authors and a potentially infinite number of readers, the project
\nmerges physical and digital media, integrating a hand-made artists\u2019 book with an iPad app
\nthat can be read separately or together, with the iPad inserted into the back of the book. The
\nartist’s book contains a number of physical features that emulate the mutation and
\nthe interactivity of the app, including blind-printed text, heat-sensitive ink, and laser-cut openings
\nthat invite the reader to see page and screen as a continuous touch screen interface.<\/p>\n