William S. Burroughs – Ferran Destemple: Deconstructive Asemics using “The Soft Machine” (Barcelona, Spain)

Pages from The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs altered by Ferran Destemple (Barecelona)

 

Ferran Destemple – an artist and writer in Spain whom I admire very much – sent me these pages from The Soft Machine as a submission to Asemic Front. He uses erasure on pages from a classic William S. Burroughs text to create asemics.

Ferran Destemple wrote, “In relation to the pages I sent you, I need to tell you that it is one of my works about Burroughs’ texts. In this case I erased parts of the Burroughs text to convert or transform it into an asemic one.”

These links will take you to related work by Ferran Destemple:

www.autismosautomaticos.net

http://www.autismosautomaticos.net/category/cinefan/

I love the concept and the visual appearance of these pages, and I appreciate that Ferran Destemple has shared them. Extending the William S. Burroughs cut-up experiment into the realm of asemics is, I believe, a project of great interest.

The Soft Machine is a text where conventional, linear narrative and linguistic conventions are already disrupted in order to reveal the machinations, codes and deep structures ordinarily hidden from the reader’s consciousness. By moving the text further into the realm of the unintelligible, even greater depths are illuminated.

Some asemicists aligned with specific theories might question if this work is truly asemic. Erasure can raise a process question when there is an original, underlying text that can be reconstructed. I acknowledge this would be a fair question worth discussion, although I have not yet seen a reasonable resolution between the two views. But I also believe this work by Ferran Destemple is of importance regardless of its relationship to asemics or visual poetry. I am thrilled to present it on Asemic Front. Close-ups are included.

• DVS

 

 

 

 

 

“Surrogate” by Amy Irwen (Rosemount, Minnesota, USA)

“Surrogate” – a collage with asemics – by Amy Irwen (Rosemount, Minnesota, USA)

 

Amy Irwen participated in Asemic Front previously with collabs. Now she has sent a beautiful solo collage with asemic writing which I am thrilled to share. The circular asemics are an excellent structural device as are the text-image relations that make this piece visual poetry as well. Here is a closer look:

 

 

And the reverse side:

 

 

And the envelope:

 

 

 

Return of “The Rebecca Type-overs”

Asemic Front collab by Rebecca Resinski (Arkansas, USA) & De Villo Sloan (New York, USA)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asemic Front collab by Rebecca Resinski (Arkansas, USA) & De Villo Sloan (New York, USA)

 

 

 

Collab foundation by Rebecca Resinski

 

 

 

 

Concrete Poetry Artist’s Book by Rebecca Resinski (Conway, Arkansas, USA)

Blocks an artist’s book of concrete-visual poetry by Rebecca Resinski (Cuckoo Grey 2017)

 

Rebecca Resinski is an Asemic Front fave, and I am thrilled to be able to share her artist’s book Blocks, a superb collection of traditional concrete poetry released under her Cuckoo Grey publishing imprint.

 

 

I emphasize the artist’s book aspect because Blocks is a harmonious melding of form and content on several levels. The book is beautiful to view and transforms the text into something akin to a three-dimensional language structure. The poetry is limited to four panels, but it is the book-as-art-object perspective that makes Blocks a compositional and conceptual triumph. We are compelled to apply a new way of “reading.” Rebecca Resinski reveals concrete poetry is derived from Classicism as much as it is from the revolutionary avant garde with which it is most commonly associated. Blocks is an aesthetic triumph of simplicity, clarity and calm.

 

 

At least one strain of concrete poetry (derived from Europe and Latin America) emphasizes the materiality of language in the theory that explicates this unique but persistent form. I believe the success of Resinski’s Blocks is largely based on its materiality, which in this case is tied to the actual book form. The square poem structures (given linearity through a loose alphabet structure) are based more on geometry and numerics  than poetic form – say – the sonnet. They provide cohesion to the physical panels and folds. The usual abstraction of conventional “reading” is replaced by the physical experience of pages, folds, touch, fonts – a needed contrast of presence to the digital age.

DVS

 

 

 

Blocks an artist’s book of concrete-visual poetry by Rebecca Resinski (Cuckoo Grey 2017)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vispo X 3 = Richard Canard (remix), Chris Wells, Rebecca Resinski

 

 

 

“Homage to John Gayer’s Outgoing” by Richard Canard (Carbondale, Illinois, USA)

 

 

 

 

Visual poetry by Chris Wells (Columbus, Ohio, USA)

 

 

 

 

 

“Sunlight through trees on water” by Rebecca Resinski (Conway, Arkansas, USA)

 

 

New Asemic Correspondence by Yayoi S.W. (Kirkland, Washington, USA)

Asemics by Yayoi S.W. (Kirkland, Washington, USA)

 

Yayoi S.W. is creating wonderful art and sharing it via the Eternal Network. She is receiving rave responses. Because her work is often image-text and/or asemic, she has captured the interest of the vispo and asemics communities as well. I’ve already been thrilled to include her work in the Asemic Front project. Her asemics are becoming, in my estimation, more refined and expressive. I am now happy to have new solo work by Yayoi S.W. to share. For those versed in mail art, you might note that she appears to be part of the Mail Art 365 project, a huge worldwide effort that requires a great deal of discipline.

DVS

 

 

 

Detail of asemic writing by Yayoi S.W.

 

 

Asemic visual poetry by Yayoi S.W.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asemic vispo collabs by Tiina Kainulainen (Helsinki, Finland) & De Villo Sloan (Auburn, New York, USA)

Collab by Tiina Kainulainen (Helsinki, Finland) & De Villo Sloan (Auburn, New York, USA)

 

 

Collab foundation by Tiina Kainulainen

 

 

Collab by Tiina Kainulainen & De Villo Sloan

 

 

 

 

Collab by Tiina Kainulainen & De Villo Sloan

 

 

Asemics & Chaos Theory by Ruud Janssen (Breda, Netherlands)

Mail art by Ruud Janssen (Breda, Netherlands)

 

Ruud Janssen – already a contributor to the Asemic Front project – sent this fascinating correspondence art package. A main preoccupation of the piece is exploring asemics and the way signs and symbols are expressed through various modes. These range from “obsolete technologies” to the digital realm and are all addressed in this multi-faceted work.

Ruud Janssen devotes one of his well-known, hand-painted envelopes to establish the themes. I believe this is the first of his painted envelopes that purposefully uses asemic writing. Here is the reverse side of the envelope:

 

 

The envelope contains a copy of a letter that reflects on the experience of using a typewriter in the Digital Age and the ironies of snail mailing a letter when email is available. Ruud Janssen addresses ideas concerning copies vs. “authentic” texts, a subject of perennial interest to artists on the conceptual side of things. For me, this “letter” works as a conceptual essay (of significance I would add) that encompasses numerous topics including the current status of traditional mail art. I believe Diane Keys (Elgin, Illinois, USA) also received a copy of this piece:

 

 

The reverse side:

 

 

This piece was also included:

 

Mail art by Ruud Janssen (Breda, Netherlands)

 

 

 

On the envelope (top scan), Ruud Janssen asks about a connection between asemic writing and Chaos Theory. I wager he knows more about Chaos Theory than I do. I do know that current asemic writers are discussing randomness, formlessness and even discoveries of physics proper (areas I associate with Chaos Theory) as tools to generate asemic signs, symbols and structures. Various kinds of computer randomness generators could be used to generate asemics. But I am not sure if this is what Ruud Janssen is asking. As Gertrude Stein said, “What was the question?”

DVS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asemic Concrete Poetry Collabs by Michael Orr & De Villo Sloan (part 2)

Collab by Michael Orr (Clarkston, Georgia, USA) & De Villo Sloan (Auburn, New York, USA). Type-over by DVS.

 

 

 

 

Collabs by Michael Orr (Clarkston, Georgia, USA) & De Villo Sloan (Auburn, New York, USA). Type-over by DVS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asemic Concrete Poetry Collabs by Michael Orr & De Villo Sloan (part 1)

Asemic Front collab by Michael Orr (Clarkston, Georgia, USA) & De Villo Sloan (Auburn, New York, USA)

 

These snail mail collaborations between Michael Orr and me took a long time as they were scheduled early in the Asemic Front project. I believe they turned out very well as the result of Michael Orr’s contemplation.

For me, these pieces are rooted in the geometry of traditional concrete (typewriter art) poetry. However, they depart into the digital realm showing an evolution in technology (digital glitch images have been integrated). Ironically, these pieces were composed using traditional collage technique (scissors and glue). Granted, some of the outcome is based purely on Michael Orr’s unique and recognizable style. It has been great to be able to work with him.

DVS

 

By Michael Orr and De Villo Sloan

 

 

 

And a detail study:

 

 

 

Asemic Front collab by Michael Orr (Clarkston, Georgia, USA) & De Villo Sloan (Auburn, New York, USA

 

Version #2:

 

 

A detail pic: