Peter

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Concrete Poetry II (1965)
Max Bense, Germany

Concrete poetry is poetry that it has shape, literally. The aesthetic has as much importance as the written words because this draws from its linguist meaning. According to Max Bense, the conventional linear distribution of text in the page is taken into account, and the surface arrangement becomes just as important.  For me it makes sense because text is not just used as  the pieces of a puzzle in order to form an image, Instead it is coherent when is read, there are sentences although it is contained into a shape.

People Like Us  (2002)

Vicki Bennett

 This video appears to me as a prophecy that foreshadows the indispensable role of computers. One thing that also got my attention was the way the video refers to motion graphics as a way of communicating, even though back then motion graphics was a new technology.  The video mentions that computers would not only enable us to discover a lot quicker, but also to communicate what we discover with the same quickness.

The Wooster Group

This video was quite interesting because was the documentary of a group of performance artists, which had a show that commented about the history of repression in the USA over the past 30 years. The video at first seem very racist, because there are all these white people that painted their skin black and are performing very stereotypical scenarios.  In a way made me upset. Then couple minutes into the documentary one of the artist explain that perhaps they wanted the viewers to be aware of the racism, and in that position it could show us that we still have a bit of racism left in ourselves. It all was an oxymoron but a well though-out one.

                                                                                           

 Shut The Fuck Up (1984)

This video is a soliloquy about the relationship of the art world and social media. The video at point sounds like a protest that called the media to stop using their names for the sake of making news. Interestingly enough the video also explains how some artist attempt to reach a broader audience by making use of the media. The narrator in the video mentions that some artists do this in order to access the immediacy of the medias. Another oxymoron that show how this two are bad for each other although they are almost forever intertwine.

There were Dreams

Barbara O’Connely

        

This was a chapbook I believe. The book features the figure of a women interacting with a string of words and at sometimes struggling with this string. The words read something about love. In the series of illustrations the whole idea of having those words form part of the illustration makes it a bit easier to understand, especially after having read the title.

Bob Dylan vs A. J. Weberman (1971)

These were recordings of two phone calls by A. J. Weberman to Bob Dylan. To hear this celebrity really in a defensive but honestly concern voice made me it feel more human to me. Dylan was not treating this person very politely but he was not being pushy either. They were discussing what should end it up in an interview Weberman had with Dylan. Dylan repeatedly cursed, but as one listen this were words that were more part of his everyday diction more thatn his anger with Waberman. He admitted mistakes he did while answering some question. But is clear he did not want to be perceive as inconsiderate, so he said things “I shouldn’t have say that”  or “I don’t wan to insinuate that”. Weberman had gotten and interview when Dylan did not know he was being interviewed, so he at the beginning confused said “you want an interview, I can give you a interview” I just think that recording is very interesting.

New American Radio

Don Joyce (1944)

In this recording of a radio show, the narrator explain that at that moment radio is almost always and outlet for people to expose their work, thoughts, and ideas. But rarely this takes the role of generator of ideas.  Don Joyce here tries to turn the studio into an instrument that generates new content. The result is a mix of sounds.  In new American radio’s recording one hears things such a short phrases, sound of the wind, movie scenes audio, music beats, and a variety of other sounds that sampled sound of all sources. I thought they were very experimental and avant-garde, in particular because was during the 1940s; at a time when radio was a major player if not the biggest among all the social medias.

Alex Bag

Untitled Fall '95 (1995)

This work is s series of videos, put together in a very really-show fashion. There is this student that in a monolog talks about her time in Art school. In every clip she start mentioning in what semester of school she is at. Then she goes on in a sort of parody that is very satirical. She goes through all the stages of a typical freshman but with a pretentious-teenager personality.

For example in one part she goes like this:

“ I am in my 4^th semester in SVA. I just want to be in my studio and do what I want… Is like I have all these ideas my head is going to explode… why do I have to write all this paper-who cares about the French revolution, ahh! is totally stupid, … It doesn’t apply to my work at all”

She says the word like way too often, is kind of funny when she tries to explain how art is trying to sell her popular culture back to her. Very fun to watch.

Paper Tiger TV

In this video in a talk show format a person explains how corporate visual media is used to format a predetermined depiction of reality through the news in the TV.   He goes on about the way news channels pretend they disseminate news in the best way for us to consume, when in reality they just display it in the best way the see it fit, keeping a sort of hidden agenda. Somewhat funny and at the somewhat true.

 David Cammack | USA

Poem 23

This work was under the contemporary section, is a slideshow that has words that rime as if were an stanza from a short poem. It seem like a cheap formula to a typical poem. It was a commentary on the idea prominent idea of what poetry is, because continuously this words would change but and some would stay but they would always rhyme, for instance these are some of the words you would see in the scree:

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Room

Saloon

Perfume

Raccoon

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Axis of Evil (2002)

This is another work under the same category, this time is a program that let you type letter just by using your mouse. I believe these letters are not in a particular sequence; they are rather being displayed in the screen at random. To click away and form shapes with this random letters reminded me of the idea of concrete poetry. You can just draw with letter.