Coding the Wild: Digital Poetics, Artificial Intelligence, and More-Than-Human Futures in Mechanical Treehouse
Proposal Type
Individual Talk
Location
Algorithms & Imaginaries
Start Date
July 2026
End Date
July 2026
Abstract
Alinta Krauth and Jason Nelson created an electronic poem, Mechanical Treehouse, defined by them as an “extra-large digital narrative” and by the author of this paper as an animated digital tapestry. It brings together text, image, and movement. This poem was created with artificial intelligence as a creative tool.
This paper explores how a hybrid narrative ecosystem is created, one where nature, technology, and the posthuman world meet. The poem is set in a vertical landscape of tree cities. Mechanical Treehouse imagines ecological architectures that respond to climate change through sustainability, interspecies collaboration, and symbiotic relations between humans and non-humans.
The poem is inscribed in an ecocritical line within contemporary e-poetry, exploring the possibilities of the interactive and audiovisual medium. The paper concludes that the work functions as a poetic-visual proposal that invites readers (or users) to reflect on possible future forms of life, in which electronic literature becomes a tool for imagining sustainable and more-than-human scenarios.
Keywords: more-than-human; digital poetry; electronic poetry; ecocriticism; extra-large digital narrative; digital literature; artificial intelligence; electronic literature; digital tapestry.
Coding the Wild: Digital Poetics, Artificial Intelligence, and More-Than-Human Futures in Mechanical Treehouse
Algorithms & Imaginaries
Alinta Krauth and Jason Nelson created an electronic poem, Mechanical Treehouse, defined by them as an “extra-large digital narrative” and by the author of this paper as an animated digital tapestry. It brings together text, image, and movement. This poem was created with artificial intelligence as a creative tool.
This paper explores how a hybrid narrative ecosystem is created, one where nature, technology, and the posthuman world meet. The poem is set in a vertical landscape of tree cities. Mechanical Treehouse imagines ecological architectures that respond to climate change through sustainability, interspecies collaboration, and symbiotic relations between humans and non-humans.
The poem is inscribed in an ecocritical line within contemporary e-poetry, exploring the possibilities of the interactive and audiovisual medium. The paper concludes that the work functions as a poetic-visual proposal that invites readers (or users) to reflect on possible future forms of life, in which electronic literature becomes a tool for imagining sustainable and more-than-human scenarios.
Keywords: more-than-human; digital poetry; electronic poetry; ecocriticism; extra-large digital narrative; digital literature; artificial intelligence; electronic literature; digital tapestry.
Bio
Yolanda de Gregorio Robledo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of French and English Philology at the University of Cadiz. She earned her PhD in Arts and Humanities in 2022, receiving both a European distinction and an Extraordinary Award. With more than seven years of teaching and research experience, her work focuses on electronic literature, literary theory, and semiotics. Currently, she is the General Coordinator of the Master's Degree in International Communication at the University of Cadiz and a member of the “Bridge Writings” (Escrituras puente) research project. Her recent contributions include co-authoring the book and curating the exhibition Coded Verses: The Poetry Created with AI (2025). She has also published research on female digital narrative, artificial intelligence, and the work of authors such as Maria Mencía and Christine Wilks.