Henri Chopin | Typewriter poems

Henri Chopin

Typewriter poems

Köln, Germany: Edition Hundertmark, 1982

[16] pp., 20.5 x 14.6 cm., staple-bound

Edition of 500 signed, numbered and dated copies

Part of the legendary Hundertmark series, this slim volume features a series of Dactylopoèmes -  a term the artist first coined during the 1960s to refer to a new genre of poetry produced through the meticulous layering of letters, numbers, and signs onto a sheet of paper.

“By manipulating modern-age technology, Chopin seeks to access the primal expanse of communication, the infinity beyond symbolic meaning. The tape recorder makes possible the elongation and elaboration of sound shapes, makes audible the normally inaudible. Similarly, the typewriter, in its perfect repetitious typescript, showcases the “architectural skeleton” or pure form of letters and words. In this way, Chopin simultaneously engages the mysterious archaic and the mechanical state-of-the-art”. Chopin’s innovative sonic compositions range from the vocal incarnation of a rocket flight in 1963, through a composition deploying the sounds of the air in the human body in 1966, to a dark and atmospheric work from 1969 consisting of laughter while his typewriter poems evidence the artist’s interest in performative writing and his preoccupation with a relationship between the order and disorder. For Michel Giroud, Henri Chopin is an explorer of a terra incognita, of an infro- and ultra-poetry of pure energy that goes beyond language: “he introduces the primary poetry, in the sense of Novalis, that is poetry as energy, the primary planetary poetry of the corporal space”.

- Sara Softness

Bici Hendricks | Punctuation Poems

Bici Hendricks

Punctuation Poems

New York City, USA: Black Thumb Press, 1966

14 x 8.5 cm.

Edition size unknown

Nye Ffarrabas (formerly Bici Forbes and Bici Forbes Hendricks) founded The Black Thumb Press in June of 1965, "to publish experimental work of high merit which, for various reasons - unconventional form, small size, or unpretentious nature - would necessarily be bypassed by the established publishers.”

This Kraft envelope with a white label contains twenty printed cards featuring typographic compositions each consisting of a single typewriter character.

"Many of her poems are also lozenges. You will find they feel good on your tongue, and can soothe an inflammation. In “Punctuation Poems” her words simply deliquesce, and melt away like ice (or identity), until all we are left with are the pauses, the stops and starts, joining and breaking the silence of the page.  Nye’s “Black Thumb Press” was not an artwork or a poem at all, but rather a laboratory for tinkering and experimentation with the elements of style and meaning, beauty and communication. Exalting the greasy thumbprint of the mechanic who repairs the press, and the technician who inks the plate, equally alongside the author who crafted the verse. The literal press that birthed the poem, remembered on the page, fingerprints pressed indelibly into the volume. Creator, fabricator, distributor, and reader all joined in conversation.”

- Bracken Hendricks

"Nye is a wordsmith, an alchemist with words. For a decade we traveled through life together. Two children. Three grandchildren. Shared memories. A lot bonds us. In 1964 we started the Black Thumb Press and sent out small mailings. Nye planned meals of single colors, turning meals into art. By the mid 60’s we were part of Fluxus, and also active participants in Charlotte Moorman’s Avant Garde Festivals. In 1967 at the New York Mycological Society Banquet1 Nye sat next to Marcel Duchamp. In 1970 we went to Cologne together for the “Happening and Fluxus” exhibition at the Kunstverein, where she had Dinner Service with hubcap plates on an American flag, and her powerful piece Neo/N [Über alleS] flashing on the wall behind. By the late ‘60’s, our passion for social engagement had us taking our children on our shoulders to Gay Rights marches and Anti-War demonstrations. In 1971 to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary we had a Flux Divorce. George Maciunas helped with ideas and John Lennon and Yoko Ono were guests, a special celebratory event."

- Geoff Hendricks

Jeremy Deller | What Would Neil Young Do?

When we co-hosted a retrospective of Jeremy Deller’s work with the Art Gallery of York University, Mercer Union produced two ephemeral projects with the artist: a bumper sticker that read GOD LESS AMERICA and a take-away poster that asked WHAT WOULD NEIL YOUNG DO? 

Together, they suggest that the latter’s inspiration was the What Would Jesus Do? bumper sticker or bracelet. This was my assumption, and I never asked. 

But later I learned that this story by Asylum Records founder and Neil Young manager Elliot Roberts  has made the rounds in classic rock circles: 

"It’s funny. Neil and I used to have this joke- whenever we were asked to do anything: a commercial, even a TV show- I would say to Neil, “What would Bob Dylan do?” From like, the very beginning. That’s how we made our decisions. And years later I’m managing Bob, and some decision came up, he turns to me and goes, “What would Neil do?”

So it’s possible Deller read a Neil Young biography and it prompted the poster. Elliot Roberts also managed Joni Mitchell, adding another detail to Cecilia Berkovic’s response work WHAT WOULD JONI MITCHELL DO? 

This entry continues one made over 14 years ago (yeesh) using social media posts to trace how these posters ended up the world. I’m glad to see them in more bedrooms, bathrooms, recording studios and record stores, than art galleries. 

See the original post here and send me pictures if you have a copy. We eventually got one to Neil Young, when curator Anthony Kiendl included my work and a project by Daniel Lanois in his Nuit Blanche zone (Lanois had just produced Young’s Le Noise LP). 

Ben Vautier | A Little Book of Ben [deluxe version]

Ben Vautier

A Little Book of Ben

Stuttgart, Germany:  Reflection Press, 1970

[unpaginated], 23.5 x 16.5 cm., staple-bound on cloth hard covers

Edition of 25 signed and numbered copies

The deluxe version of a staple-bound book released as the 14th issue in a series of handmade publications edited by Albrecht Dietrich called Future Culture [see previous post]. This version - released in an edition of twenty-five copies - comes with a unique hand-written element (“Ben is the Best”, “Reflection?”, “Love is not love but ego”, etc.). 

Also pictured above, are four blue pen drawings on white paper: 'Wann ich male dann ist es für meine Ehre', 'Gott ist da', 'Ich liebe mädchen', and 'Anonyme Kunst ist unmöglich ich bin ein hypokrit’.