Abra: a living text

Abra is a magical poetry instrument/spellbook for iOS. Touch words and watch them shift under your fingers. Cast dozens of spells to mutate the text and set it into motion. Write your own words into Abra and see them become part of her vocabulary. Read, write, and experiment to discover Abra's secrets and make her poems your own.

This app was created as a born-digital artist’s book, funded in part by an NEA-sponsored Expanded Artists’ Books grant from The Center for Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago. Available in parallel is a limited-edition clothbound artist’s book that treats the printed page itself as a touch-screen interface. An iPad running the Abra app can be inserted into the book, conjoining the analog and digital into a unified reading experience.

Abra was created by Amaranth Borsuk, Kate Durbin, and Ian Hatcher.

Available free for iPad and iPhone. Requires iOS 15+.

A-B-R-A.com Twitter: @AbraApp