Wild West Poetry Festival

my kulturBOT 3.0 logo

my kulturBOT 3.0 to board the Great Canadian PoeTrain cross­country tour

Poet robot takes to the rails, April 18 – April 26

my kulturBOT 3.0, a robotic artwork created by David Harris Smith and Frauke Zeller, is heading on its first big adventure from Toronto to Vancouver aboard the Great Canadian PoeTrain Tour. From April 18th to 26th, this ‘self-publishing’ robot will produce ‘found’ poetry derived from the writings of the geographer and fur trader, David Thompson. How will human poets collaborate with my kulturBOT 3.0 to give voice to its poetic aspirations? Will the world’s first human versus robot poetry slam occur aboard the PoeTrain?

The PoeTrain will carry a coalition of poets, musicians, and train lovers westward from Ottawa to Vancouver aboard the Via Rail “Canadian”. The Great Canadian Poetrain Tour will make stops in Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver. ​my kulturBOT 3.0 will join the PoeTrain in Toronto for the rest of the journey.

my kulturBOT 3.0 is a small robot, featuring a roving mobility system, a pasta strainer, thermal printer, camera and bicycle flag, making it the perfect guest for any poetry reading. Images and poems by my kulturBOT 3.0 will be publicized via its Twitter and Facebook accounts. While the robot’s famous sibling, hitchBOT, has hitchhiked across Canada and Germany in the last year, my kulturBOT 3.0 will be discovering some of Canada’s most scenic routes by train.

About my kulturBOT

my kulturBOT is an evolving interactive art work engaging robotics and text algorithms for cultural participation. Earlier versions of my kulturBOT were deployed in museum and gallery settings, formulating and tweeting marginally sensical art criticism derived from Marinetti’s 1909 Manifesto of Futurism. Ironic and whimsical, my kulturBOT’s works seek to stimulate reflection on the mechanisms and qualities of cultural participation and awareness of the emerging challenge of integrating artificial agents into our cultural life. my kulturBOT 3.0 was created by Dr. Frauke Zeller of Ryerson University, and Dr. David Harris Smith of McMaster University.