Typewriter Art Recalls ASCII Art, Is Cool Lookin'

Typewriter art has been around for a while, mostly hidden in the annals of experimental art houses and hipster basements, but now Keira Rathbone is trying to resurrect the art form in a world of people who are increasingly unfamiliar with the devices that create it. What that world of people is generally familar with is ASCII art, which makes for an interesting comparison point. ASCII art is very structured, generally makes use of monospaced font for consistency, can be colorful and, of course, is digital, which makes it much easier to take a trial and error approach. Typewriter art, while still maintaining the “letters as pictures” theme, is different in almost every other way. It’s black and white, you can overlap and, most of all, there is no delete button.

Rathbone is taking these differences and running with them, however, going so far as to turn her typewriter art into performance art, a sort of typing-based, high-wire act. You know, something you’d expect to see in Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. She even has a specially modified typewriter that enhances the already melodic clickety-clack we all know so well from fake typewriter sound effects. All she needs to do is figure out a way to get the thing to dance and she’ll have a real blockbuster on her hands.

Check out all the rest in her gallery at Wired UK.

(via Wired, Underwire)