Mad Arts Acquires Digital Poetry Works by the Collective theVERSEverse

South Florida has a new museum offering visitors a less traditional perspective on the arts, one that looks to the future instead of the past.

Mad Arts focuses on immersive art experiences and cutting-edge ways of expression. It recently acquired 22 digital poems by the Miami-based, women-led collective of poets, artists, and creative technologists theVERSEverse, making it the largest digital poetry acquisition by a museum to date.

"Digital poetry is verse that engages with technology, utilizing different mediums to connect with new audiences. Digital poetry can be experienced virtually, in the same way that a short film of video artwork is experienced, opening the door for poetry's participation in the contemporary art market," explains poet Ana María Caballero, who cofounded theVERSEverse in 2021.

Caballero, who is publishing her seventh book next year, focuses her writing on questions around the notion of sacrifice and romanticized motherhood. She says working in this new medium can help poets and artists sustain themselves because they work in blockchain, which makes the exchange easier.

Poet and professor Caridad Moro-Gronlier was recently named Miami-Dade County's poet laureate, tasked with bringing poetry to different areas of the city through public projects and readings. As a Gen X-er, she says she initially resisted the idea of digital poetry. But after talking to her colleagues in theVERSEverse, she says, "It was interesting to find where my excitement and fear intersect with theirs, and I found that my resistance to it reminded me of my parents' resistance to the internet. I realized I don't want to be stagnant. I refuse to be stagnant."

A Cuban-American, she started publishing her writing after the birth of her son in 2003, focusing on pop culture and her experiences as a bicultural, bilingual, queer writer who's navigating menopause, which she calls "the new frontier." She observes, "With every new stage comes a new lens."

Her work acquired by Mad Arts, Consejo a la hija que nunca tendré, Para Rafaela (Advice to a daughter I will never have, for Rafaela), became a digital project thanks to a 2023 collaboration with graphic designer Ellie Pritts. The poem was transformed into digital poetry through a reverse ekphrasis — the act of writing in response to a piece of art. "But in this case, the writing came first." The collective paired her with Pritts, who crafted a short film based on Moro-Gronlier's writing. "[It] encompassed so much of what I wanted to say," she says. "It made me question my creative fears and made me broaden my perspective."

Mad Arts founder and president of the marketing agency Mad Studios Marc Aptakin also established Ignite Art & Light Festival, a family-friendly interactive art and technology event in Broward County. He says putting on Ignite informed his efforts to establish Mad Arts with audiences in mind.

"We understood that not all the visitors were here for the same reason," Aptakin explains. "Our feeling is that the traditional museum model is broken and definitely not a welcoming experience in most cases, and it was our mission to create the absolute opposite experience." For instance, the museum donates tech support and other services "to help artists bring projects to life that they are struggling with in one way or another." It also offers educational components that give artists instruction on how to use technologies on display in the museum. His goal is to expand and open two new museums in the next five years.

"Much like the introduction of any new medium, there is resistance to it," he says, noting that photography wasn't always considered art. "I think this movement of digital work is nothing more than a new medium, and put in the hands of creatives like theVERSEverse, I firmly believe this medium is here to stay."

Regarding the acquisition, he says, "I think the idea was so disruptive and beautiful. For us, we wanted to support such a bold and important idea that something as traditional as poetry could be reimagined and have such unlimited possibilities, mixing the artist's creativity and technology. On top of that, they are amazingly beautiful pieces of art!"

Mad Arts. 481 S. Federal Hwy., Dania Beach; yeswearemadarts.com. Tickets cost $19.99 to $24.99.