Poem by F. T. Marinetti

Poem by F. T. Marinetti

“The leader of the Futurists was F. T. Marinetti, a poet, novelist, and manifesto-writer. At about the same time that Boccioni was painting streets entering the house, Marinetti was experimenting with parole in libertà (“words in freedom”), poetry made from words thrown about the page, poetry composed with type, lines, and the occasional drawing. Stéfane Mallarmé and Guillaume Apollinaire had experimented with placing words all over the page before him, but Marinetti innovated in his simultaneità, simultaneity. It’s impossible to read this poem in any definitive way: what order should these words and phrases be read in? The impression that Marinetti seemed to be trying to provoke was of a lot of people yelling at the same time, though the title of his poem suggests that it’s meant to be a letter that a gunner at the front sent back to his lover. But Marinetti’s mark-making doesn’t represent the words that the gunner says: instead, the words present the sounds that the gunner hears.”

from if: book A Project of The Institute of the Future of the Book

Paola Pivi, Have you seen me before? (2008)

Paola Pivi, Have you seen me before? (2008)

Abjection.

The Political in Art

“Even artistic experimentation and creation that is not explicitly political can do important political work, sometimes revealing the limits of our imagination and at other times fueling it.” —Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri

Artists’ Books on the Web

Artists’ Books on the Web

Wonderful website with animated documentation of artists’ books in Reed College’s Special Collections

“The spectrum of modern and contemporary Artists’ Books in Reed College’s Special Collections and collected on this website include traditional letterpress printed books of poetry, conceptual book works, sculptural and visual works, concrete poetry, and magazine works. This unique collection, which holds significant 20th century and contemporary artists’ books, gives students and the broader population insight into the significant role artist’s books have played among the avant-garde of Eastern and Western Europe, Asia and the United States, from the turn of the last century to the present.”

The works are divided into four categories: 1) livres d’artiste; 2) avant-garde; 3) conceptualist; 4) contemporary.

Poetic Research Bureau

Poetic Research Bureau

newest hangout…

Tan Lin, Eleven Minute Painting Reading Module v. 0.1 (dub ver.)

Tan Lin, Eleven Minute Painting

Reading Module v. 0.1 (dub ver.)

Courtesy Penn Sound

File under Polyphonics

File under Polyphonics: An entry comparing an amateur recording of children saying “Happy Birthday Pat,” with Raymond Quesneau’s Exercise in Style, in which he tells the story of a simple incident in 99 different ways (dream, narrative, anagrams, spectral, passive, telegraphic, etc.). Be sure to listen to the recording!

From Steve Roden’s excellent blog Airform Archives.

New catalogue on Piero Manzoni

Just got the new catalogue on Piero Manzoni, edited by Germano Celant and published by Gagosian Gallery and Skira Publishers. It is a beautifully produced, highly substantial book that positions Manzoni within his rightful context. What to do when commercial galleries are producing books of the same caliber of scholarship that museums strive for? Buy it.

The Rite Stuff – David Frankel on Art-Rite

The Rite Stuff – David Frankel on Art-Rite

Al Hansen, Coco Was a Poco Loco about Cacao and Men (1968)

Al Hansen, Coco Was a Poco Loco about Cacao and Men (1968)

Hershey wrappers on wood

11 1/2 x 8” (29.2 x 20.3 cm).

Collection Museum of Modern Art, New York, Gift of Agnes Gund

362.2006