INSOMNIES ET ART POSTAL: octobre 2011

lundi 31 octobre 2011

ENVOI DE "E" A RUUD JANSSEN

Envoi de "E" à Ruud Janssen - TAM Publications - P.O. BOX 1055 - NL 4801 BB - Breda - Hollande

Liens vers ses sites
http://iuoma.blogspot.com/
http://iuomalogos.blogspot.com/
http://iuoma-network.ning.com/
http://www.iuoma.org/
http://stores.lulu.com/iuoma
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iuoma/
http://iuoma.blip.tv/

RECU DE RUUD JANSSEN - HOLLANDE

Reçu de Ruud Janssen - TAM Publications - P.O. BOX 1055 - NL 4801 BB - Breda - Hollande

Liens vers ses sites
http://iuoma.blogspot.com/
http://iuomalogos.blogspot.com/
http://iuoma-network.ning.com/
http://www.iuoma.org/
http://stores.lulu.com/iuoma
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iuoma/
http://iuoma.blip.tv/

ENVOI DE "E" A REMI CHAUSSE

Envoi de "E" à Rémi Chaussé - 2877 rue Elmer - Rawdon - QC - J0K 1S0 - Canada

ENVOI DE "E" A EMILE CHAUSSE - CANADA

Envoi de "E" à Emile Chaussé - 2877 rue Elmer - Rawdon - QC - J0K 1S0 - Canada

INTRODUCTION POUR ASEMIC COLLABORATIVE BOOK 16#3

Asemics 16

Collaborative Mail-Art Book Project

INTRODUCTION TO EDITION 3

This third edition of the Asemics 16 collaborative book project is a collection of highly innovative work by artists who are members of the thriving, global mail-art community. On the pages ahead, you will find work by painters, collage artists, photographers, conceptual artists, and visual poets. They applied their talents to create new work in the esoteric and endlessly fascinating realm of asemic writing.

Asemic writing includes the invention of imaginary languages with corresponding symbols and systems for their arrangement. An asemic text suggests a language, might at times reveal traces of known language, but ultimately cannot be read as any existing language or extinct language that has been recorded.

Much asemic writing today mimics symbols transcribed on an otherwise blank page: written correspondence (cursive asemics), the printed page of a book. Perhaps because visual artists have delved into asemics as well as writers, color, images, textiles, found text and objects – among other material – are sometimes employed to provide context and suggest narratives. Mail-artists, in particular, seem to favor liberally incorporating the visual arts. This accounts for much of the visual richness of Asemics 16.

This approach is a common thread connecting the work of members of the Asemics 16 project; the result is the creation of hybrid forms that meld traditional distinctions between the visual image and linguistic symbol (visual poetry) – pushing us ahead into the era of post-literature and, paradoxically, pushing us back to the illuminated book and ultimately back to the archaic, to the origins of language and symbols. A fascinating aspect of this edition is the artists who find asemic symbols in nature; it is almost as if they wished to erase the heavy accumulation of culture over centuries and millennia to begin anew. Others prefer to sift among the ruins of older worlds for inspiration.

Cheryl Penn, a South African artist whose work frequently visits the border between image and text, deserves great praise for establishing the concept of Asemics 16. I am thrilled to have been her partner on this adventure. She is founder of the South African Mail-Art School and developed her process for creating collaborative books from her study of New York City artist Ray Johnson; he was instrumental in establishing the mail-art movement in the 1960s.

The project was launched in May 2011. The International Union of Mail-Artists (IUOMA), founded by Ruud Janssen of the Netherlands, served as an ideal headquarters in cyberspace for an effort that required extensive coordination and communication. One fascinating aspect of the project made possible through IUOMA was group discussions that preceded individual work on chapters (and later sharing drafts). These included forming a consensus definition of asemic writing, providing consciously flexible parameters.

The mail-art community, inherently connected to Fluxus, has been a conduit and supporter of concrete poetry, visual poetry, haptic poetry as well as asemic writing for decades. It is gratifying that Asemics 16 can serve as a chronicle for the work of the wonderfully gifted artists who continue to advance these forms.

De Villo Sloan

August 15, 2011

Auburn, New York, USA

INTRODUCTION POUR ASEMIC COLLABORATIVE BOOK 16#2

Asemics 16

Collaborative Mail-Art Book Project

INTRODUCTION TO EDITION 2

In this second edition of the Asemics 16 mail-art project, you will find remarkable work by artists from around the world who have shared their talents and ideas to explore and expand the esoteric and fascinating practice of asemic writing.

We were very fortunate to benefit from the involvement of highly regarded artists and writers who work on the borderland where text and image meld. I offer special thanks to John M. Bennett and Cecil Touchon.

Asemics16 is made even more unique because it also attracted artists producing highly innovative work in areas including painting, collage, photography, and conceptual art. They brought tremendous excitement and enthusiasm. Their work opens vast possibilities for the future as we enter an era where traditional notions of poetry, fiction, and the text are reframed around the concept of post-literature.

The Asemics 16 book project was launched in May 2011 by South African artist Cheryl Penn. As the result of her study of U.S. artist Ray Johnson, Penn has led a number of highly successful book projects through the global mail-art network. The International Union of Mail-Artists (IUOMA), founded by Ruud Janssen of the Netherlands, served as an ideal headquarters in cyberspace for an effort that required extensive coordination and communication.

One fascinating aspect of the project made possible through IUOMA was group discussions that preceded individual work on chapters (and later sharing drafts). These included forming a consensus definition of asemic writing where participants explored topics including the relationship of found and natural objects to asemic writing; the relationship of asemic writing to visual poetry and concrete poetry as well as haptic and object poetry; and applications of cultural theory to illuminate practice. Examples of work by earlier authors and artists were discussed, in particular Cy Twombly, Henri Michaux, and the collaborative work of Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs.

This second edition is rich in approaches to creating asemic writing. You will see beautiful and highly expressive cursive script where letters, words, and phrases emerge, mirage-like – hinting at a message to the reader – only to fade elusively back into incomprehension and fragmented shapes that rise and fall from the unconscious. Other artists take a material approach, fragmenting the existing letters into new symbols and syntax. Many of the artists have focused on placing their asemic work in a relationship with other images, often creating a narrative context and inventing various hybrid visual-textual forms.

In the pages ahead is a dialog about the nature of language and the human experience by artists from an incredible array of cultures and perspectives. I invite you to delve deeply and enjoy their tremendous contributions.

De Villo Sloan

August 10, 2011

Auburn, New York, USA

INTRODUCTION POUR ASEMIC COLLABORATIVE BOOK 16#1

Asemics 16

Collaborative Mail-Art Book Project

INTRODUCTION TO EDITION 1

The global mail-art network, which evolved from art practices in the United States and Europe in the 1960s, has for decades served as a conduit for visual-verbal forms. Mail-art’s close ties to the Fluxus movement have unquestionably strengthened this connection. Vital work long-nurtured by the network includes concrete poetry, visual poetry, haptic and object poetry as well as the fairly esoteric yet endlessly fascinating practice of asemic writing.

In May 2011, South African artist Cheryl Penn launched an ambitious collaborative mail-art book project encompassing four editions; this is the first. I have been greatly honored to coordinate the project with her. The International Union of Mail-Artists (IUOMA), founded by Ruud Janssen of the Netherlands, has served as an ideal headquarters in cyberspace for an effort that involves many artists from around the globe.

Through Asemics 16, Penn has sought to chronicle the work of contemporary asemic writers in the mail-art network, to encourage other artists to explore asemic writing, and to push the boundaries of current practice. Thus you will find in this edition work by asemic writers who are well-known in the field. You will also find artists who work in collage, painting, photography, and conceptual art, among others. By crossing traditional boundaries they have produced extraordinarily innovative contributions.

The realm of asemic writing includes the invention of imaginary languages with corresponding symbols and systems for their arrangement. Asemic writing suggests a language, might at times reveal traces of known language, but ultimately cannot be read as any existing language or extinct language that has been recorded. Through the absence, discontinuity or disruption of conventional signification, new meanings and realizations are made possible. Visual and material elements of written language are brought to the forefront.

Depending upon the approach taken by the individual artists in Asemics 16 – Edition 1, asemic writing can be wondrously simple or intriguingly complex. Some of the artists found inspiration in the scrawling of young children seeking to mimic the writing they have seen but not yet mastered; some delved into personal symbol systems they first created as children themselves.

Other contributors have made asemic signs and syntax from found material and asemic-suggestive shapes in nature. Some have delved into prehistoric glyphs and ancient texts; others have drawn inspiration from street art. The result in Asemics 16 is a vast, global dialog of human expression not constrained by time, space or language.

Asemic writing is also a medium that can be illuminated and explained through advanced cultural theory in fields including semiotics and linguistics. It addresses deeply philosophical questions involving indeterminacy, incomprehensibility, and meta-language. This edition with all its visual richness brings us together in the shared experience of being human and our relationship to the world.

De Villo Sloan

August 8, 2011

Auburn, New York, USA

INTRODUCTION POUR ASEMIC COLLABORATIVE BOOK 16#4

INTRODUCTION FOR ASEMICS 16 - EDITION #4

Asemics 16

Collaborative Mail-Art Book Project

INTRODUCTION TO EDITION 4 – The Mountain of Signs

In 1936, Antonin Artaud visited Mexico hoping to find among its indigenous population the foundation for a new civilization that would revitalize and replace what he perceived to be the failed cultures of Europe. Artaud made contact with the Tarahumara people and in order to reach them had to traverse a desolate region which he named “The Mountain of Signs.”

Artaud’s written account of the difficult journey on horseback contains a remarkable passage where he witnessed the natural rock formations and twisted trees around him transform into marvelous inscriptions, hieroglyphs, fantastic statues depicting myths that he could not read or understand but that suggested vast systems of language chronicling an ancient world alive and energized not by reason but by an alternative source he could only name as magic.

Artaud’s vision of “The Mountain of Signs” is an early and wonderful description of the experience of encountering and creating asemics and aptly captures the spirit of this fourth edition in the Asemics 16 project, which can fairly be described as artistic magic.

The fascinating practice of asemic writing includes the invention of imaginary languages with corresponding symbols and systems for their arrangement. An asemic text suggests a language, might at times reveal traces of a known language, but ultimately cannot be read as any existing language or extinct language that has been recorded. Yet, as the pages ahead reveal, asemic writing is far from being devoid of human expression. Indeed, it succeeds on a global scale where language so often falls short.

Much of the work in this fourth edition tests the boundaries and practices of asemic writing itself as they are currently understood, further validating and extending Artaud’s experience. The artists have found inspiration for their work in all areas of their environments, creating amazing symbols and structures. As a result, new directions are presented and possibilities for expression are enlarged.

United by their involvement in the international mail-art network, contributors to this edition are accomplished painters, collage artists, photographers, conceptual artists, and visual poets. Applying their considerable talents to asemic writing (arguably most strongly aligned with literature), they have produced work that is visually stunning and provocative.

While some might seek to secure firm lines between abstract art with asemic elements and asemic texts, the work in edition four – to the contrary – disregards these distinctions between text and image in favor of creating altogether new forms. Thus, as the Asemics 16 project has progressed, the term asemic writing has given way, through a shared consensus, to the concept of asemics, which seems to be far more open and inclusive.

In their willingness to experiment and explore their imaginations, the contributors to Asemics 16 – Edition #4 open up the possibility of new worlds and new forms of expression.

De Villo Sloan

September 21, 2011

Auburn, New York, USA