Nikki Giovanni Immersive Experience

Combining Nikki Giovanni’s poetry (as recorded by Giovanni at different times in her life) with audio soundscapes and motion graphic projections, this interdisciplinary collaboration between a composer, designers, literary experts, embodied performance artists, and creative technologists converges to create a multi-sensory experience. Each 3-walled projection aims to capture the essence of Giovanni's poetry, drawing inspiration from its themes, imagery, and rhythmic cadence. Additionally, we utilized the library's motion capture studios to collaborate with faculty (and, in the future, students) from the School of Performing Arts in developing visual avatars that appear in the final motion graphic works. Attendees had the opportunity to engage with the art on a deeper level, allowing themselves to be enveloped by the interplay of sight and sound, word, and image.

On June 8, 2025, in conjunction with the Black Love Is Black Wealth memorial event in Giovanni’s honor, we held our beta launch of the project, during which we installed Ego Tripping and Nikki-Rosa. We are currently working on developing several other poems into an immersive format.

For the first phase of the project, I served as Project Manager, developed the motion graphics for Ego Tripping, and created the opening of Nikki-Rosa and assisted with the animations. Charles Nichols created the music. Trevor Finney did the motion capture and renderings and helped in the development of visuals. Brittney Harris created the embodied movement work and created audio montages of Nikki Giovanni recording her poetry over the years. Gena Chandler helped in the selection and interpretation of poems. Student, Demetrya Dye, developed the visual materials and early animations for Nikki-Rosa and regularly met with the creative team.

And special thanks to Nikki Giovanni and Virginia (Ginney) Fowler for granting us permission to do this project. We will be forever grateful for this opportunity to explore Giovanni’s work in this immersive way.

Ego Tripping
(there may be a reason why)

by Nikki Giovanni

I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
    the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
    that only glows every one hundred years falls
    into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

I sat on the throne
    drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
    to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
    the tears from my birth pains
    created the nile
I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned
    out the sahara desert
    with a packet of goat’s meat
    and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
    so swift you can’t catch me

For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother’s day
My strength flows ever on

My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
    as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
    jesus
    men intone my loving name
    All praises All praises
I am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
    the filings from my fingernails are
    semi-precious jewels
    On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
    the earth as I went
    The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
    across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended
except by my permission

I mean . . . I . . . can fly
like a bird in the sky . . .