Scrollytelling is usually a cosy little solo thing.
You scroll, words and pictures move, the story unfolds.
Quiet. Screen-based. Just you.
But I thought … what if you ripped it off the screen?
What if you projected it - floor to ceiling - into a messy, neon space, full of cyberpunk spirit, hacked thermal printers, and chaos?
What happens when you drop all that chaos inside a Regency Town House?
This was the idea behind Glitch, a digital narrative turned physical experience, staged as part of Leonora’s Banquet at Brighton Fringe (curated by The Writers Mark).
A surreal, slightly unhinged, definitely rebellious fever dream - inspired by the surrealists, the social hackers of their time.
From scroll to space
Scrollytelling is normally a solitary genre.
Intimate. Controlled. Pixel-bound.
With Glitch, I wanted to challenge that.
What happens when the story becomes something you walk inside? Something that glitches you - physically, emotionally, socially?
The story itself moved through six phases:
othering, oppression, masking, finding community, rebellion, transformation.
But partway through building it, I realised: the rebellion wasn’t just in the narrative.
It was the process.
Saying no to the assumed rules:
No, scrollytelling doesn’t have to stay on a screen.
No, scrollytelling doesn’t have to be solitary.
No, art doesn’t have to be painting/sculpture/photography - it CAN be interactive.
The build (or: metaphorically and literally gaffer taping stuff together)
I designed the space myself.
Protected the tech from curious fingers.
Hacked thermal printers (the misbehaving kind).
Cobbled it all together with gaffer tape, borrowed kit, stubbornness, and (way) too many late nights.
It was glitchy. Alive.
People walked in. People scrolled.
People moved through a digital story reimagined as a physical space.
Nobody died.
Total win.
What’s next?
If you’re a museum, a creative agency, a queer space - or just someone curious about what story can be - let’s talk.
Glitch was never meant to stay still.
It’s a prototype. A provocation. A proof of concept.
It could evolve into something more.
I’m hoping to bring Glitch back later this year - watch this space.
Curious? Have a scroll through desktop Glitch here.
#scrollytelling #digitalstorytelling #installation #brightonfringe #leonoracarrington #surrealism #artinstallation #immersiveart