what's the craic ...
a.k.a. what's going on ..

Latest news .. 

February 2022 to June 2024 - Augmented Reality Tales of War and Peace/ARTWP:

In February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine. Peter - together with good colleagues from Ukraine and Denmark, and as a reaction to this illegal war, laid the foundations of two projects. The first was the augmented reality poetry book "Ukraine. War Words". The second was the augmented reality arts project ARTWP. Since 2022 and until today, with funding from the European Union Creative Europe Fund, the Danish Arts Council and the Danish New Democracy Fund, ARTWP has been working with 12 artists Denmark, Ukraine, Italy and France representing a wide variety of artistic disciplines. In dialogue with local communities ARTWP has been creating AR artworks that reflect, and reflect upon, the horrors of war and our urgent need for peace. The final ARTWP artworks will be presented  in June 2024 in public spaces/city squares in each of the participating cities, where they will remain "in situ" until 2026! 

July 2021 - February 2022 "Secret Windows":

"Secret Windows" - is an augmented reality promenade performance based on the period(s) that Tove Ditlevsen spent in the Sct Hans psychiatric hospital in Roskilde,

The Danish Arts Council awarded the project  a grant to develop an augmented reality promenade performance about the period(s) Tove Ditlevsen spent in Sct Hans psychiatric hospital - times which she described as "possibly the happiest period in my life"!

This project is being developed with my daughter - the photographer and video/installation artist Maloubumbum.

February 2021

Well, it's been a strange time these last few Covid months. Most of the winter has been spent shielding/in isolation, but this has of course allowed plenty of time to speculate on next steps. 

I am pleased to tell that the Danish Arts Council awarded a major grant so that I can to continue my  Augmented Reality (AR) poetry collaboration with young people from Roskilde - in particular with students from Roskilde Gymnasium - in autumn 2021/spring 2022. Brilliant news! 

I of course continue to write poems, and short stories - there's plenty of inspiration around in these unusual times. I have also been continuing my work in developing an AR promenade performance project based on the life and work of the Danish writer and poet Tove Ditlevsen. Audiences will will have the chance to follow three separate routes, in Roskilde and Copenhagen, and be able to digitally meet Tove, and many of those who figured (for better or for worse) in her life. The routes will cover three different phases, and three geographic locations, in her life. More here soon.

14th August 2020 BREAKING NEWS X 2:

WORLDWIDEWORDS BREAKING NEWS - PART 1


SEIZE THE WORD/CARPe-Verbum!!

Free summer word-workshop: SEIZE THE WORD/CARPe-Verbum in Sct. Hans Have in Roskilde.

The poet, playwright and theatre director Peter Campbell Bensted - who is the artistic director of WorldWideWords - will create the world's first Augmented Reality Peoples Library in the public space! And you can contribute once you have attended a workshop that lasts 75 minutes.

Augmented Reality (AR) is an expanded view of reality that mixes "reality" with "virtual" elements! For example, if you point with a smartphone / tablet at a ”real” wall, building, tree, window or other object - and you have participated in the workshop - then "virtual" voices, sound, images, and video will ”pop up”.

The theme for CARPe-Verbum is the song “People who need people, are the luckiest people in the world ”. Based on the theme, you will have the chance to create stories about places, buildings or people in the area around Sct. Hans Have or in Roskilde, which have a special meaning for you. And all stories will be "shown" at a joint forest walk on Saturday 12.9.

CARPe-Verbum has been developed together with the artist community "TiFuglePåTaget" and Byens Hus in a collaboration with Sct. Hans Have and with support from Statens Kunstfond.

Who: For citizens between 15-105 years
Where: In the special tent “Emperor” in Sct. Hans Have, Bistrup Allé 36, 4000 Roskilde
When: Saturday 29.8 - Sunday 30.8 and Saturday 5.9 - Sunday 6.9
Time: Workshops start every day at 12.00, 13.30 and at 15.00
Registration: Reserve a workshop place via wowiwo4000@hotmail.com or a PM here on Facebook.
Technique: Download the well-known Augmented Reality App beforehand. "Artivive".
Forest walk is on Saturday 12.9. at 12.00. 13.30, 15.00 (no reservation)

The Danish health authorities' guidelines regarding number of participants, distance, hygiene, etc. will of course be complied with.

Hear J-Lo sing "People Who Need People" on YouTube - and be inspired.


WORLDWIDEWORDS BREAKING NEWS – PART 2

“20/20 Visions - re-imagining the world/re-imagining the word”

Are you between 15 and 25? Then you are invited to take part in a word-workshop with poet, playwright and theatre director Peter Campbell Bensted.
20/20 Visions is a practical introduction for young people (15-25) in Roskilde to the artistic potential that exists at the crossroads between the virtual world (augmented reality) and the “real” world (written and spoken words).

Augmented Reality (AR) is an expanded view of reality that mixes "reality" with "virtual" elements! For example, if you point a smartphone/tablet at a ”real” wall, building, tree, window or other object - and you have participated in the workshop - then "virtual" voices, sounds, images, and videos will just ”pop up”.

Young people (15-25) are welcome to participate in the four open workshops in late summer/autumn at the following places / dates:

Sunday 23 August 14-18. Byens Hus (Under Gulvtæppet/Under the Carpet), Stændertorvet
Sunday 6 September 13-17. ”Emperor” tent in Skt. Hans Have
Sunday 20 September 14-18. Byens Hus (Under Gulvtæppet/Under the Carpet), Stændertorvet
Sunday 4 October 14-18. Byens Hus (Under Gulvtæppet/Under the Carpet), Stændertorvet

There is limited space for the open workshops so you MUST reserve a place at wowiwo4000@hotmail.com or write a PM here on Facebook.

The results of workshops will be presented in Roskilde - in reality and in virtuality (sic) - at the end of the workshops.


NOTA BENE: there are 30 "20/20 Visions" workshops with 363 elever from Roskilde Gymnasium in August/September and Oktober!!!!

20/20 Visions is supported by the Statens Kunstfond and Roskilde Municipality's Culture Fund.

4th August UPDATE:
Just to say that to those of you who have a hard copy of my Augmented Reality (AR) Poetry Chapbook "The Haikus of Hallucinogenia", you are now able to download the AR app. Artivive to your smartphone or tablet (Appstore and Google Play) to bring the poems alive with sounds and spoken words.
Many thanks to Artivive (Austria) for their support.


Note: If anybody wants a free PDF copy of the book then please inbox me 😁

More about Artivive here: https://artivive.com/contact/


A Hallucinogenia!

1st April UPDATE: 

WoWiWo for Wee Peeps. 

Stories and poems from around the world for wee peeps (5-105 years) told LIVE from my sofa every Saturday in April - 10.30-11.00!!

Hello! 

This is a quick shout out from me, Peter, currently sitting at home, in the WoWiWo – the WorldWideWords - storyteller sofa. I’m really sorry not to be in Roskilde with all my artist and other friends and colleagues at the City house - Byens hus - doing all the WoWiWo ”word-work”. 

So I thought, remembering that ”in the beginning was the word”, that it was VERY important ”here and now” to say a few words, so the words will still be with us in the future.

So - I decided to do something wordy, especially for all the kids - the wee peeps - and maybe also for the grown ups around them, out there in Roskilde and Denmark and the rest of the world . I thought that the wee peeps - you are a wee peep if you are anywhere from 5 years old to one hundred and five years old - might like to hear a few words, a few stories from around the world. In English.

So, every Saturday in April, I will be live streaming thirty minutes with the very best poems and short stories for wee peeps. From writers like Tolstoy and Roald Dahl, or from Africa amazing stories from the wonderful Zukiswa Wanner – and of course there will be few cat poems (it is Facebook after all) from that great cat-lover Mr. T.S. Eliot. 

So - there you have it. Cash me in the WoWiWo sofa, every Saturday in April, here on WorldWideWords Facebook page with ”WoWiWo for Wee Peeps”. 

It’s from 10.30 to 11.00, and we’re starting on Saturday 4th April. Oh yes, and it’s FREE – of course.

PS If you have a special story to want me to read, then send me a message - here on FB.

PPS I look forward to perhaps doing this live at sometime in the future as well. 
Perhaps at the City house - Byens hus - in Roskilde. Maybe a new tradition is starting ☺

Ok, thats it. Bye. Ciao. Ciao-bye. See you. Vi ses 

See more here: https://www.facebook.com/events/832708443909049/ - or just press the Facebook link at the bottom of this page.

"WoWiWo for Wee Peeps" is created in cooperation with the artists collective TenBirdsOnTheRoof (Kunsterfælleskabet TiFuglePåTaget) based in The City House/Byens Hus, Roskilde, Denmark.

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20th March - for Nowruz 1399, and World Poetry Day 2020. Read/listen to a couple of new haiku under Stories and Poems.

18th March - read/listen to the poem "The Aquarium - or 34 Fish" under Stories and Poems.

Here's what's else is going on in/planned for 2020/2021:

2020. Two ongoing film projects with the lovely Channel 6 Television in Skanderborg - "The Ten Danish commandments"  about the so-called "Ten Danish Values" and soon ready to show, and "Hidden Talents" - about the many challenges facing so-called "gifted" kids.

2020. Getting ready for "Re-Imagining the Word/World" - a series of augmented reality poetry chapbook workshops for/with youth in Roskilde.

2021. Waiting for news from Creative Europe about funding so we can move ahead, with our brilliant friends from Ukraine (Lviv) and Italy (Cosenza), with "Writing On The Wall - 20/20 Visions" - a major co-creative (artist/citizen) "Pan-European Augmented Reality Stories in Public Arenas" project scheduled for next year.

Latest truth .. 

Reading from the augmented reality poetry book "Ukraine. War Words" in Beaugency, France (2024). Photo: Alexandr Avramchuk.

Finding inspiration in the Danish countryside (near Skanderborg).

Photo: Adrian Redmond (Channel 6 Television)


Realising where the big money is!!!


Top image: a little augmented reality poetry, and then some craic, at the Krydsfelt (Crossfire) Festival in 2019 - please note the Tullamore Dew blankets which supplemented the uisge-beatha (whisky) nicely in keeping out the cold.