Riddle 57

PRINTMAKING, POETRY & ANIMATION

JUNE - AUGUST 2020

Our lockdown project brought together poets, historians, animators and printmakers to turn a 1000 year old riddle from the Exeter Book into an animated encounter that can be “played” by the reader.

Riddle 57 is one of nearly 100 riddles from the Exeter Book, a tenth-century anthology of poetry in Exeter Cathedral’s library, recognised by UNESCO as one of the world’s principal cultural artefacts. The riddles are playful little windows into the past. They’re dynamic – demanding to be played, replayed and interpreted.

We collaborated (entirely online!) with filmmaker Luke Hagan, medievalists Professor Chris Jones (University of St. Andrews), Dr Megan Cavell (University of Birmingham) and poet Jacob Polley, Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University to create a interactive riddle that explores the language and imagery of the riddle.

To help elicit images from the public, Jacob wrote Picture Me... prompts in response to Riddle 57 (below). We publicised the opportunity online and over 180 prints/ drawings/ paintings from across the world were submitted. This launched here on the 20th AUGUST!

The project is one of Exeter City of Literature’s Associated Projects. In November 2019, Exeter joined a global network of 39 cities that specialise in Literature. The UNESCO designation ‘City of Literature’ recognises excellence and places an obligation on cities to nurture and support their artform and collaborate internationally.

PICTURE ME…

… air, open space, a breeze, emptiness, loftiness, a nothingness on which things are carried.

… little things lifted, carried, borne aloft, transmitted, wheeled, wafted, floated.

… a hillside, a slope, a craggy hill, a steepness, a rise, an incline, an angle.

… a heap, a mass, a crowd, a drove, a troop, a squabble.

… a woody headland, an arboreal cape, a forest outcrop, a grove, a glen, overgrown, green.

… the blackest things.

… a cloak of shadow.

… a coming together to sound.

… a visit, a fly-by, a perch, a buzz, a settling, a print, a mark, an impression, a track, a stamp.

… a built hall, a walled place, a town home, a city hall, a man-site, a raising of roofs, a crafty quarter, a thought house.