Corriere della Sera on Poem Booth

Italy's leading newspaper Corriere della Sera spotlights the Netherlands' role as guest of honor at the 2025 Salone Internazionale del Libro in Torino, with particular attention to the innovative ways Dutch poets are making poetry accessible to new audiences.

The article, "Paesi Bassi poetici dall'anima tech" (Tech-spirited Netherlands), focuses on how poets like Babs Gons (current Poet Laureate of the Netherlands) and Ellen Deckwitz (Official Poet of Amsterdam) are bridging traditional poetry with modern technology. Central to this cultural dialogue is VOUW's Poem Booth, which the Italian daily describes as an "AI poetry machine that creates poems from pictures."

Writer Jessica Chia highlights how the Poem Booth represents a new approach to democratizing poetry, allowing anyone to engage with verse through technology. The installation, which debuted at festivals like Lowlands and has traveled internationally, transforms photography into personalized poems using AI - embodying VOUW's slowtech philosophy of using technology to bring people together rather than isolate them.

The coverage positions the Netherlands' participation at Torino as part of a broader cultural mission: "La scoperta dell'Olanda" (The Discovery of Holland), bringing Dutch literary voices to Italian audiences through both traditional readings and innovative installations like the Poem Booth. For VOUW, this recognition in Italy's most prestigious daily newspaper reinforces the international resonance of projects that merge art, technology, and human connection in meaningful ways.