Ashley

1. http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/text/vp/CR002_rinne_notes_for_soloists_2009.pdf
“Notes for Soloists”. My favorite from this is “notes on war & god”. I can almost feel and hear the bombs dropping on a war zone or on innocent civilians, which more often than not is both. The way this is written out is like an orchestra. The words bounce around like thoughts on the page. Each line is so honest about the effects of war, and how it damages so silently at first, beginning with goodbyes and ending with “peace”. Something simulating music is used to create such a somber dialogue by using words. Music and words are combined here to become one.

2. http://www.ubu.com/concept/stein_five.html
“Five words in a line”. I have always admired and been attracted to poems or writing that are short but also powerful. With this piece, I was immediately hooked because of the exactness of it. It is obvious, but also not. It says everything, by saying nothing. It also comes off as a bit sad to me, the tone that is. In art we are always asked to say everything we are thinking, and with this piece that is defied. There is a scream present here, and honesty.

3.http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/text/vp/boudy_when_i_was_young_one_summer_1972.pdf
“When I was young one summer”. The letters in this piece are formed together to create images and to create a narrative for the viewer. Instead of using words or sentences, the artist creates a new story by just constructing imagery from these letters. The title alone says it all, while the images created fill in the gaps by, saying nothing at all, but by saying everything.

4. http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/text/vp/019_Spence_10_Poems_1987.pdf
“Ten poems”. This reminded me of the assignment we did in class. I always like to think about how tangible a language is, how tangible words are because of the emotion behind them. Language is tested here. The viewer can make up their own narrative and rearrange the letters to paint a picture for themselves.

        5. http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/text/vp/013_Baum_Study_2011.pdf
“Study”. The colors of the background added to the text creates another narrative along with the words that are used. Colors can create and emit moods, which is what I have been working with for my senior thesis. Mark Rothko (painter) worked with this in his paintings and art as well. One word poems have always been quite enjoyable to me. Each word can create a new meaning and thought for the viewer, just like each word in a conversation creates a new signifier in our brains for when we speak.


6.  http://www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen9/dreamMusic.html#riley
 “Dream Music”. I love how this piece illustrates a lack of formula for music, and how that can be the same with how we communicate with one another. There is not one specific way to say “hello” or “goodbye” to one another, or any other phrase. This differs between culture, and person. Everything moves outward from one singular origin or  idea to create millions more, and that is illustrated here.

7. http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/text/vp/020_Werman_Mit_Schreibmaschine_2007.pdf
“Mit Schreibmaschine”. I was immediately attracted to this piece because of the use of a machine that is originally used for creating text and language, is now used to create images. The images are hard to understand and read, but each viewer is then enabled to create their own idea or story behind each page and picture. The images are hard to understand, and can be changed just like language can, and just like words can depending on each person involved in language.

8. http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/text/vp/029_Luthi_Basic_Anna_Livia_Plurabelle_2011.pdf
“Basic Anna Livia Plurabelle”. In this piece, the artist/writer took a book, or an essay written about “basic english”, and completely changed the context of it by circling words to form a new dialogue for the viewer. This can hint towards how our language is interchangeable, and how it is constantly evolving the more we evolve with it. The poem created is hard to understand, which can be said for traditional language, even for those who speak this language as their first. We are constantly growing as people to form new ways of communicating and understanding each other. Ways that had never been thought of before, and this is one of them.

9. http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/text/vp/006_VALOCH_8_SONNETS_1969.pdf
“8 Sonnets” When I first read this, it made me laugh, mainly because it is daring, and something I have never seen done before. Instead of using punctuation marks to end a phrase, a thought, or a sentence, the punctuation marks in this piece are used to make dialogue, and to continue it. Something that is normally used to be an ending, is now being used as a beginning, middle, and end.

10. http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/text/vp/nichol_the_pipe_1973.pdf
“The Pipe”. I was immediately drawn to the “land poem” after looking through all of the pages in this. I have always believed and seen poetry in the land and the nature around us. To me, that is how poetry originally came to be. Not because of love or anything else, but because of the land. Nature sings poetry on its own, it is poetry on its own. They didn’t need words for this piece, because the image of the woods is poetic enough on its own, and says far more than words.