A poetic experiment Walt Whitman interpreted by three animators Justin Moore

As an experiment,

we gave recordings of the same Walt
Whitman poem to 3 different animators.

Each interpreted the text

with no knowledge of what
the others were creating

Here’s the result.

“A Noiseless Patient Spider”
by Walt Whitman

Interpretation #1 by Jeremiah Dickey,
Medium: Paint on Glass

“A noiseless patient spider,

I mark’d where on a little promontory
it stood isolated,

Mark’d how to explore the vacant
vast surrounding,

It launch’d forth filament,
filament, filament, out of itself,

Ever unreeling them,
ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,

Surrounded, detached,
in measureless oceans of space,

Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,
seeking the spheres to connect them,

Till the bridge you will need be form’d,
till the ductile anchor hold,

Till the gossamer thread you fling
catch somewhere, O my soul.”

Interpretation #2 by Biljana Labovic,
Medium: Video

“A noiseless patient spider,

I mark’d where on a little promontory
it stood isolated,

Mark’d how to explore the vacant
vast surrounding,

It launch’d forth filament,
filament, filament, out of itself,

Ever unreeling them,
ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,

Surrounded, detached,
in measureless oceans of space,

Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,
seeking the spheres to connect them,

Till the bridge you will need be form’d,
till the ductile anchor hold,

Till the gossamer thread you fling
catch somewhere, O my soul.”

Interpretation #3 by Lisa LaBracio,
Medium: Scratchboard

“A noiseless patient spider,

I mark’d where on a little promontory
it stood isolated,

Mark’d how to explore the vacant
vast surrounding,

It launch’d forth filament,
filament, filament, out of itself,

Ever unreeling them,
ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,

Surrounded, detached,
in measureless oceans of space,

Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,
seeking the spheres to connect them,

Till the bridge you will need be form’d,
till the ductile anchor hold,

Till the gossamer thread you fling
catch somewhere, O my soul.”