Take Tea With Turing is an interactive anthology of creative work inspired by the life and legacy of Alan Turing. This compilation of poetry, prose, audio work and multimedia pieces was compiled and edited by Viccy Adams, Leverhulme Trust artist-in-residence at the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, and was produced as part of the 2012 centenary of Alan Turings birth.
The anthology is divided into three sections, accessed through fiduciary markers (downloadable from the website: http://taketeawithturing.wordpress.com/). The app uses the camera function in your device to recognise one of the printed markers, which unlocks a piece of content from the anthology on a random shuffle within that markers selection. The content in the anthology can also be accessed through the Author Index on the main screen.
Take Tea With Turing follows the principle that the only way to really get to know someone is to sit down and have a cup of tea with them. Since Alan Mathison Turing died in 1954, the next best thing is to take some time to consider the many and varied ways in which the impact of his work and principles continue to influence contemporary society. This anthology brings together short pieces of creative work – poetry, fiction, script, music and animation – by people who have found inspiration in the story of Turing’s life and work. You are invited to pour yourself a cup of tea, sit down, relax, and explore the work in the anthology.
Instructions
• Visit the website and print the three markers
• Find a quiet place and time, set out the three markers, open this app
• Hold the camera function of your device over one of the markers
• Listen / watch / read whatever content is unlocked
• Repeat above two steps
A word from the editor:
The stories we tell about other people reveal our own fascinations and secrets. In compiling this anthology I feel I’ve seen a valuable snapshot of the world a hundred years after Turing’s birth, still looking for explanations about the world around us and about who that world allows us to be.
I’ve spent part of my residency researching a novel – about a cleaner who makes friends with a robot – inspired by the architecture of the Informatics Forum and the conversations I’ve been having with researchers about the meanings and values of human and artificial life. Outside of the residency it felt as though everyone I spoke to about my novel knew someone also writing about Turing. I wanted to reach out and find out more; what were they writing, what pulled them into the subject, what aspect of Turing’s life were they unwrapping.
Informatics is the science of information – how natural and artificial systems process, store and communicate information. In designing this anthology as an app I wanted to play with traditional ideas of literary communication. My hope is that you will enjoy Take Tea With Turing as a conversation.
Viccy Adams, editor, Take Tea With Turing