Brian Joseph Davis in Class on Dec 10 !!!

BRIAN JOSEPH DAVIS in class DEC 10 !!!

I finally found his page on UBUweb

and YESTERDUH is there, and otherwise I highly recommend: 10 Banned Albums Burned Then Played (2005), Voiceover (which is very similar to the piece we listened to in class, Johnny) and Eula.

You can visit his website here.

Patrick Miller

Love this guy. Enjoy the simplicity and wit. Especially with this piece "allusive". Not too complicated in terms of content or structure. Something is always happening in his pieces but they never seem too over-thought or over-structured. They are not lazy...just...nice sunday evening visual poetry.

http://www.ubu.com/contemp/miller/millerp_allusive.swf

Propoganda c.1925

Is it considered poetry if it's with numbers?

Adachi Tomomi

I find the work of Adachi Tomomi very exciting. His work involving speech manipulated by various homemade instruments and computer software is especially fascinating. His compositions and improvisations all carry a quirky element, and often push speech and the sounds they are reduced to, beyond what appear to be their limits. Take ‘Ktrp’ for example. I personally find this piece disgusting to listen to due to the sounds resembling those of someone regurgitating. However, it is a good example of how Tomomi develops a certain sound. ‘Gamp’ and ‘Tsh’ were two of my favourite pieces to listen to. ‘Gamp’ is a brilliantly violent piece that extracts, modulates, and grinds speech up to the point that when it is spit out, it resembles nothing speech-like. It really ends up being an explosion of sounds. ‘Tsh’ begins with the entry of a repeated squeaking sound that is sped up and layered on top of itself. The repetition gave me the feeling that I was slowly backing away from the piece just as you would do with a painting, only with my ears so that I ended up listening to it as a whole. All in all, Adachi Tomomi is just a fascinating composer and performer who, in my opinion, deserves more recognition than he already has.

Annie Vought

I LOVE THIS WORK. The use of the handwriting--different handwritings--the distortion of them and the ability to alter the perception of language. "The Next Ten Things I'm Gonna Do Is Get Drunk" is fantastic. Not only the irony of the title but the large, mushed up, incomprehensible writing which gets consistently mushier and more illegible. I really like the way that the title adds to the piece. All of her titles are this way. So often artists ignore the power of the title in enhancing their work, and I like that she embraces it. In the images on her website it's hard to really get a sense of how the work looks (some of it is quite large) in person because it is photographed at awkward angles and even when it's straight on it still is hard to read because of the shadows cast by the light. Interesting thoughts of documentation come into my mind then....Also. "Get out of study hall". That one is great. Yes. Ok. I'm in love.

ASCII ART

PAPER RAD!

Check out Paper Rad's newest web comic "Scrolly Scrolls".  I like it because of its unique format for the web.  You just keep rcolling toward the right as you read it.  It is this kind of constant rush of one image to the next, and the way it all works in a line, almost like some kind of demented film strip.  

http://www.paperrad.org/scroll/

Interesting inspiration for formatting a not only images, but words as well

Also, if you like this then check out Scott McClouds site for other strangely formated comics.  The web makes for a very open ended format for anything.  The link below is to his web comic "The Right Number," and below that is a link to a great related speach he mad at the TED conference. 

http://www.scottmccloud.com/1-webcomics/trn-intro/index.html

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/scott_mccloud_on_comics.html  <-- SO GOOD!

Bob Cobbing

Bob Cobbing has to be the funniest sound poet!  Alphabet of Fishes has a style unlike any other.  His voice takes on the strange rhythm, almost like breathing.  In the beginning of the song he says the words at this steady pace with emphasis on his breath.  As soon as he establishes this consistent structure, he breaks it with an abrupt, low bellowing noise that catches you totally off guard.  I like how he knows how funny it is, and he draws out the bellow way longer than any other word. 

It is so weird how half way through the song a choir of children's soft voices can be heard in the background, and to me it sounds like he is trying to orchestrate them.  Even funnier still, is when he does that strange thing with his his throat, where he is panting and simultaneously making these high squeaking noises in the back of his throat.  It is so cartoony, and he all the sudden sounds 50 years older.  

I really like how different each of his tracks are.  In "15 Shakespeare Kaku" he is not only funny, but also totally scary and disturbing.  At times it felt like i was getting my ears raped by a consortium of of mutant babies.  I also like how the poem goes through a multitude of different phases.  It is cool how he also uses his voice to create strange ambient noises, and it sounds especially weird when he overlaps it with odd machine-like samples.  

I am fascinated with generating unknown, unexpected forms in image-making, and i see this piece as seeking to accomplish a similar form of experimentation through sound.  Through each wave of noise in the song, a different range of contrast and expectation is established. I have never heard the human voice expressed in such unknown ways.  It is very fun and surreal. 

Seepferdchen und Flugfishche

Hugo Ball's "Seepferdchen und Flugfishche" is one of the strangest tid-bits of sound poetry i have come across so far.  The way his voice and the woman's overlap and interrupt each-other creates the most bizarre cacophony of sound.  One one hand the sounds seem to collapse upon each-other and become one continuous noise.  On the other hand, each sound has such contrast from the last that it give the overall string of noise this crazy sense of ebbing and flowing.  When i close my eyes and listen to it, it is as if the sound is jumping around in space, shooting from the back corner of the room right up to my ear, then zipping up and swinging back down.  It is a very interesting effect applying that kind of abstract expression of spacial contrast through sound.

TRAMVAI

I love the scores Forunato Depero creates for his poetry.  "Tramvai" is a beautiful example.  I appreciate the way he seems to apply al these levels of logic to help inform the way it should be read.  The page is broken up into strangely framed sections, and decorated with a wide variety of typefaces filling up the space.  No one type face seems to be used more than once, suggesting that each phrase of the poem should be given its own unique character. The type is quite expressive too.  Some of it is set at a large scale, and feel strong and deep. Some type is set small and repeats like a pattern, and suggests a sort of chanting or rhythm.  Some words grow in scale by each character to suggest the word crescendos as it's spoken.  The aliqgnment is all over the place too. One line it will be left justified, and the next it will be centered or right justified.  In the poem "Verbalizzazione astratta di Singora" the allignment is realy strange.  Words are set vertically, with only one two each line, and it creates a strange sense of ordered columns.  he also sets type that is read vertically.  It is funny that for a page so packed with different connotations that is articulating non-sensical words, the score still feels like it sticks to a unique and carefully crafted logic.

She is a femenist but she still does the dishes.

kitchen. sink.
KITHCEN SNK.
............kitchen sink? Kitchen kitchen ink?
sink||||||\\\\\\\>>>>>_______!
float kitchenSink() {
sink();
kithchen(0, sin(theta));
}

float theta = kitcheNSNK

kitchensinkkithcensinkkitchensinkkitchensink.
SINK.

......................................................
*sink*
............................................................................ sink.

..............sink..........s..........i.............n...........k..............sinksink.

for int sink(kitchen++);
if(kitchenSink == 0.0001) {

float sink = sink++;
}

.................................. kitchen sink.
kitchen
kitchen
kitchen
kkkitchen^ink
pow(kkkitchen, sin(theta);

kithcen
kithchen
kithcnehn
kithchenth
kitchchenen
kitchennnnnn.





sink.

Week 9 Workshop

CalArts

I am listening to "K-9 Was in Combat with the Alien Mind-Screens" and it seems to make sense. Not the words in sequence so much, but the broken words are deliberate, as is the gradual slowing of tempo. The sound itself inform the odd, dystopic mood more than what is being said. That is not to say that the words are meaningless, but they are difficult to follow as a story; the random word standing out informs more.

There is a static-laden radiocast now. It too is difficult to follow sequentially, but I can tell that it started speaking more of the war and shifted to local sports. After a point no single channel can be heard, but two or more at once, making the induced confusion more profound.

The emancipation of poetry

William Burroughs makes an interesting point about poetry in "The Cut-Up Method of Brion Gysin". He announces that poetry and all prose is really constructed of cut-ups of words. This is true in life, as what we do when we speak, compose an essay, interpret a speech, is extricate words from the number of articles that we collect in our memories and reconstruct them in a manner that gives them meaning, at least to us. By doing this, he, like Tristan Tzara, allows poetry to be accessible for everyone. He emancipates poetry. Poetry is for everyone. The downside of this realization is that the value of poetry may decrease in value to some. "Poetry is for everyone", Tzara said... and chaos ensued. Poetry in its traditional form, was not meant to be accessible to the public. It was the art form of the "educated", of the bourgeois. To pluck it from this exclusive market and make it available to the masses would be to renounce it as an art form. Or some may think.

First hearing William Bouroughs breakthrough in the Greyroom, I though he was saying random words in a non-linear fashion, as if he is making stream of consciousness. I had likened that idea of having to read aloud stream-of-consciousness, until I found out he did the hat trick. They are all just excerpts about drug life from his stories and mix them together. That was kind of disappointing for me but I could always try that out from the top of my head. It would be interesting to find a stream of conscious audio poetry created just at the start of the recording.
Another interesting thing you (Matt) mentioned is the difference with audio/visual poetry from video art from Bouroughs' "Hello/Yes" film. I had wondered if there is a border between poetry and fine art and music and you had pointed out to his film. What gives it that limit? Is it the combination of film and audio that stands it apart from poetry, the film itself, or the repeated words (despite having different tones)? Probably film as I have yet to see or hear about a film as poetry, even visual. Unless there is, then where is the line drawn?

A transliterated poem would be interesting from Caroline's reading of different versions of the translation. Even a pictographic or semanto-phonetic.

Mairead byrne

GROOMING

I brush with your father's soft silver brush,
which you love, for it smoothens the surface,
asks no questions, like his hands, hurriedly
settling, before lighting a cigarette.

Then with my brush, which you hate, difficult
fingers rake, immune to your cries, insistent
on manifest destiny, idée fixe
of encroachment, I will know, I will know.

I take up the fine tooth comb, snout nosing
blankly along white runnels of scalp, north
to south, snuffling for inroads, thrust back
again and again by covert refusal of hair.

I change tack, airlift from the interior,
send foot patrols out, skirmishing on the perimeter,
stalking unfurrowed brow, skirting the pools
your forehead exudes — your hairline presses
out beads like the crowns of the princesses
you draw — as silence falls down

and I come to the delicate country
at the back of your neck, my Burren flower,
damp tropics at the down-covered nape,
my only one, exposing the mauvish inlet,
naive skin, candid hollow (which took
such ages to cover) to risk of the sun.

I lift molten strands, copper straps, ox-blood
ribbons, I sift and I pin, caught in the task
of placement, displacement, separation
a dream that evades until,
abandoning instruments, I plunge in,
I handle your warm weight of hair,
rummage through it, meditative as a cat

remembering the ache of this head, or
was it this head, under my ribs before
birth, then the rudeness of passage
and after, when it still needed propping,
already turned from me, neck red and stunned
with milk, this head which I almost own!

remembering long afternoons in the schoolroom,
slow storage of heat from high windows
hair heavy as a hat on my listening head

lulled now, resistance to blunt finger-tip
fades to nudge slips to shift at my touch

I unfold skein after skein, layer loosing
layer, lustrous fiber, tessellation
sans syntax, blonde heliograph, amber
chatter, criss-cross of russet on gold,
burnished chaos, semiotics of shafts'
gleam and glint, now, at its most maddening,
the hair opens up to me,
yields from its mass the particular
rhythm of the singular hair
like a poem from debris of drafts
child from the pit of birth
it seems that at last I can know
one living hair of your head, for nothing
to the diligent expert is impossible,
my consort my familiar my mate.

At night you lie finished beside me,
heaped on our bed, sculpted
in light from uncurtained windows,
inviolate as marble,
anointed at forehead and throat
with the rank oil of the mother,
sleep clothing each exit and entrance
that morning gives access to —

the imperious voice has turned in,
imperious finger that points
to this button, that nail,
collaborative silence that submits
to my stroking, fastidious
naming of parts —

And still your fingers furl towards me,
still the incessant winkling of time,
involuntary donorship of parts.
I trade my red meat for all your soft substances,
your harvests of hair and skin.
You repay your debts in scales and secretions
and a threat (that you will always sleep with me),
your blood pulsing onward as I relapse

afraid to look at your milk-teeth
to mark the first signs of decay

And still your fingers furl towards me,
while your head, hair tied tightly back,
bent in dream, explodes on a vision
of Adam and Niamh, as you hear it,
gallantly naked and riding the waves,
Niamh's golden hair whipping round them,
astride her white mare and galloping
from Eden to Beann Éadair, Howth,
from Paradise to the Land of Youth.

The bright diadem breaks out!
You sort through the myths I have funneled you
for fear you might think I am God.

Poetry or Motion Graphics?

I really like the animated work that Penelope Umbrico and Sam Stark have done. By showing words in multiple contexts, written in multiple ways you give them a deeper meaning. They put together something that is both visually interesting and thought provoking while still remaining simple.
One could also compare the animation Typolution to these pieces as well, although I think of Typolution as more of a motion graphics piece than a visual poem. I am wondering what defines the difference between visual poetry and art or animation? How animated can one make a poem before it is simply just an animation? Does the presentation of the piece also effect how the audience is reading it? Am I to assume that anything and everything that i find on ubuweb is poetry? And for that matter, why would something that is supposed to be a fine arts piece or poetry piece be on youtube? For me, the fact that I am watching something off of youtube has a huge impact on how I read the piece. I see youtube as a promtoional site, used for posting videos that might promote or advertise a company. I don't see it as an art space, unless the art is aware of the effect of youtube.

some random things

http://annievought.com/

http://web.mac.com/washford/Wills_Words/Artists_Statement.html

http://nickm.com/poems/progress.html

Background Noise

Mairead Byrne's Bagdad piece stood out to me the most last week. It was a continuos trance of the turbulent times in the middle east as reported by our news sources. More specifically however, I related it to being almost like background noise. As if it was CNN being on in another room reporting on the latest bombing, attack or distress in Bagdad. From afar and every so often you would here these keywords of war, as Byrne's Piece seemed to echo, in a more concentrated form. Maybe it would be interesting to combing her exact words to sound bytes of the exact phrases as reported in the news.

The new meaning of Baghdad

Mairead Byrne poem on Baghdad was interesting and I found it relevant in todays situation. However, I feel her referencing Baghdad negatively almost seems like propaganda. Baghdad is a beautiful city and although I have never been there I have found the word to know have so many bad connotations. She plays off those to add drama to her poem yet does not really engage me as the listener. I was not able to relate.

Daniel Corrigan

Week 9

For Class Week 9 - 11 19 09 - Post a Blog Response by 2pm the day of class to the materials shown below - We're looking at two artists William S. Burroughs (near historical) and Caroline Bergvall (contemporary), continuing our seesaw comparison between contemporary work and historical contexts. The rest of the works cited here are short papers about concrete and material poetics - most refer directly to concrete or visual poetics - and touch lightly on sound poetry - though some address sound poetry more directly. These are all short papers and most by artists whose work we have looked at and talked about in earlier classes - be sure to read all of these and be ready to discuss them in class.

William S. Burroughs - Cut-up method of Brion Gysin
various cut up techniques on UbuWeb sound – esp. Breakthrough in the Grey Room - tracks 1-15
Film - The Cut Ups

Caroline Bergvall -
Via
Eclat

Max Bense
Concrete Poetry I
Concrete Poetry II

Eugene Gomringer
From Line to Constellation
Concrete Poetry
The Poem as Functional Object

Nogandres Group - Pilot Plan for Concrete Poetry

Paul de Vree - Manifesto

Öyvind Fahlström - Manifesto for Concrete Poetry

Roland Greene - The Concrete Historical

Derek Beaulieu - "an afterword after words: notes towards a 'concrete poetic'"

I enjoyed listening to Mairead Byrne speak her Baghdad poem. Each time she said "Baghdad" if felt like a break in the flow of the poem purposefully placed to remind the listener (or reader if that is how one comes across it) where they are, as it can be easy to shift attention in one's mind while listening to such a repetitive text. It helps to be shocked back every few seconds, especially with such a currently-loaded word.

It appears that most of these early sound poems are very similar to each other. It sounds very linear and almost structured while the words are either nonsense or comprehensible. It is almost more like a regular structured, rhythmic poetry in a different language. I would wonder how the audience first reacted to these new (in their contemporary) pieces. It sounds like a typical poem without the translation. They might be expecting a translation until it is just nonsense. Although I wonder if any might have somehow drew a connection with the nonsense to scat singing of jazz and (if any would know) pansori. The later sound poets listed, like Carlfriedrich and Cobbing have taken the audio form of poetry in a less structured way. It is almost musical, mechanical, or nature-like. It is less human in that sense that they are expanding sound beyond written words, or rather comprehensible words. I wonder when did that break from the typical structure occured? Dada Visuals, especially Marinetti's Manifesto pieces are rebellious to the academic styles, but the sounds are typical, if not including content. Would the content be like art for art's sake? Dada is, in a way, to save and rebel art and academics for sake of art. Does this idea continue beyond Dada as well?

Khlebnikov's Grasshopper sounds almost just like my Mongol Piece--the participation one.

Word as sound

Just as visual art is art created in space, audio art is created in time. This leaves purely audio-related art a limited number of things to utilize in expression: dynamics, pitch, tempo, rhythm, tone, timbre, texture, and articulation. What makes music or poetry interesting is the manner in which the above are selected and combined and used to affect the listener. Take Christian Bok, for example. Pitch does not seem to be a major concern to him, but he does utilize rhythm in ways which make his performances exciting. Despite the fact that his relentlessly aggressive utterances do not demonstrate distinct variations in tempo, his use of rhythm is what gives the poetry character. I would imagine that Bok would have been incredibly popular with the Zurich Dadaists. Rhythm appears at the forefront in Mairead Byrne's work as well. In "Baghdad", the repetition of the word "Baghdad" throughout the piece creates a driving rhythm not unlike the kind that Bok employs or even forces on the poetry he performs. Byrne's performances, however, seem to be on the other side of the spectrum in terms of the use of tone and volume in expression. This does not mean that it is expressionless, but that it allows the natural driving rhythm of the text to speak for itself. Having said all this, I find the work of both artists, with their very distinct styles, very enjoyable.

Week 8

For Class Week 8 - 11 12 09 - Post a Blog Response by 2pm the day of class to the materials shown below - many of which we looked at and talked about in class... and there are some repeats here from last week as there was too much to cover and I'd like us to linger with some of this work

Sound Poetry 1910s and 20s
Sound Poetry 1914-19
Dada For Now
Hugo Ball
Raoul Hausmann
Richard Huelsenbeck
Isidore Isou
Kurt Schwitters
Velimir Khlebnikov - Sound1 - Sound2
Vasilij Kamenskij

more recent historical soundpo
Carlfriedrich Claus
Bob Cobbing
Canadian SoundPo - especially the Four Horsemen and Bill Bisset

contemporary - these we've looked at a couple times - and I'm re-emphasizing here because there is much to be taken from these artists
Christian Bok
Jaap Blonk –
Ensemble Ordinature
Tomomi Adachi

Mairead Byrne
Baghdad - text - sound
Another Self-Portrait - unfortunately I can't find a recording for this