INSTRUCTIONS, NOTATIONS & SCORES
Paula Claire suggests that sound poems—and their performance—are works addressed to the ear in collaboration with the eye, which stem from the way the body exists within the natural world. In sound poetry, poets use the visuals of a page to record, capture, or dictate the staging of the highly-ephemeral, performance-based works that occur within the realm of bodily experiences. These works are often collaborative in nature, such as Kirby Malone and Marshall Reese’s E Pod, published out of Baltimore, and its scoring for their four-piece sound poetry group, CoAccident, which would organize The Festival of Disappearing Art(s) in Baltimore, and Henri Chopin’s Revue OU magazine, which included vinyl recordings to capture the aural quality of the works without the intermediary of paper.
Carl D. Clark and Loris Essary, eds.
Interstate, no. 2.
1974.
Contributors include Kathleen Aguero, Joseph Bruchac III, John Cage, Chaconndo, Barbara Danish, Miles Hawthorne, Gottfried Honegger, Paul Miner, Anne O’Gorman, and Joseph Slate.
Charles Bernstein and Bruce Andrews, eds.
L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, no. 7.
March 1979.
Edited by Bruce Andrews and Charles Bernstein, this important periodical fostered and chronicled a poetry movement of the same name. It was published in 13 issues and three supplements from 1978 to 1981. No. 7 features Steve McCaffery’s essay “Sound Poetry,” an excerpt from his volume “Sound Poetry: A Catalogue,” co-edited with bpNichol. Additional contributors include Ted Greenwald, Susan Howe, Susan B. Laufer [Susan Bee], Nick Piombino, Kirby Malone, Chris Mason and Marshall Reese, Kit Robinson, and others.
cris cheek, ed.
Rawz, no. 1.
Summer 1977.
London-born poet cris cheek was also a founding member of the sound poetry group jgjgjgjgjgjgjg, with Lawrence Upton and Clive Fencott. Contributors include Paul Buck, Herb Burke, Paula Claire, P.C. Fencott, Allen Fisher, Chris Hall, Dick Higgins, David Mayor, Ulli McCarthy, Dick Miller, Eric Mottram, Marshall Reese, Manfred Sunderman, Lawrence Upton, and Eric Vonna-Michell.
Dick Higgins.
“Act This Out.”
The Hermetic Press, 1995.
Published and printed by Philip Gallo at The Hermetic Press as part of 7 Poets/7 Poems: A Portfolio of Visual Poems. Dick Higgins was a poet and artist, a co-inventor of Happenings, co-founder of Fluxus, and founder/publisher of the Something Else Press. Other contributors to this portfolio include Steve McCaffery, Philip Gallo, Dick Higgins, Julien Blaine, Scott Helmes, Marilyn R. Rosenberg, and Betty Danon. Printed letterpress in several colors by Philip Gallo at The Hermetic Press.
Dom Sylvester Houédard, ed.
Kroklok, no. 1.
February 1971.
Displayed is work by Paula Claire.
Published by Writers Forum. Contributors include Lewis Carroll, Paula Claire, Bob Cobbing, François Dufrêne, Raoul Hausmann, Dom Sylvester Houédard, Ernst Jandl, Jack Kerouac, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Christian Morgenstern, Paul Scheerbart, Michel Seuphor, and Paul de Vree, among others.
Henri Chopin, ed.
Revue OU [various issues].
1964-1974.
Displayed is work by Cozette de Charmoy, Jean Degottex, and William S. Burroughs, along with the cover of nos. 23/24 with artwork by Kosice, and a 33 1/3 vinyl record with work by François Dufrêne, Rotella, and Bernard Heidsieck.
One of the most influential figures of the French and European avant-garde, Chopin’s focus on art, film, sound, and poetics was informed by his early experiences. He was from a Jewish family in Paris, and during World War II was held in a forced labor camp in Olomouc, then survived a death march (which his brothers did not). His work was profoundly shaped by a search for meaning in light of these circumstances. Revue OU grew out of the journal, Cinquième Saison, revue de la poésie evolutive, for which Chopin served as editor beginning in 1958. Chopin changed the publication’s name in 1964 to Revue OU – Cinquième Saison to announce Chopin’s editorial shift toward sound poetry.
John Rowan and Bob Cobbing, eds.
And, no. 5.
September 1969.
And is the magazine of Writers Forum, and no. 5 was distributed unbound and in a plastic bag. Cover by Jennifer Cobbing. Contributors include Suzanne Bradley, Henri Chopin, Thomas A. Clark, Jeff Cloves, Bob Cobbing, Jeni Couzyn, Michael da Costa, Alan Davis, Amelia Etlinger, Roy Exley, Anne Hardwick, Dom Sylvester Houédard, d.a. levy, Peter Mayer, Neil Mills, John Moore, Jeff Nuttall, Steve Riley, Schuldt, Peter Stevens, Hannah Swain, Criton Tomazos, Jiri Valoch, Andy Walters, Islwyn Watkins, and others.
Ken Friedman and Mike Weaver, eds.
Fluxshoe.
Beau Geste Press, 1975.
This title serves as the catalog of a traveling group exhibition by David Mayor, with cover design by Felipe Ehrenberg. Contributors include Dietrich Albrecht, Eric Andersen, George Brecht, Monte Cazazza, Henri Chopin, Robin Crozier, Robert Filliou, Allen Fisher, Ken Friedman, Tibor Gayor, Mick Gibbs, Guerilla Art Action Group, Dick Higgins, John Lennon, George Maciunas, Opal L. Nations, Yoko Ono, Alistair Park, Carolee Schneemann, and Bob Watts, among others.
Kirby Malone and Marshall Reese, eds.
E pod, no. 1.
April 1978.
Displayed are works by Marshall Reese and Chris Mason.
Cover by Rosemary Malone. This issue is titled “Texts and Scores” and includes work from members of the Baltimore-based sound poetry group CoAccident, described within as “a poetry music performance group, whose work includes voices, electronics, acoustic instruments, texts, notation, improvisation.” Members include Alec Bernstein, Kirby Malone, Chris Mason, and Marshall Reese.
La Monte Young, ed.
An anthology of chance operations concept art anti-art indeterminacy improvisation meaningless work natural disasters plans of action stories diagrams music poetry essays dance constructions mathematics compositions.
Heiner Friedrich, 1970.
Displayed is a script for performance by Jackson Mac Low.
Design by George Maciunas. Contributors include George Brecht, Claus Bremer, Earle Brown, Joseph Byrd, John Cage, David Degener, Walter De Maria, Ding Dong, Simone Forti, Henry Flynt, Dick Higgins, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Terry Jennings, Ray Johnson, Jackson Mac Low, Richard Maxfield, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Terry Riley, Dieter Rot [Dieter Roth], Malka Safro, James Waring, Emmett Williams, and Christian Wolff. This is from the second edition.
Marcello Angioni, ed.
Abracadabra, no. 4.
1979.
Displayed is work by John Cage and Mara Cini.
Contributors include Michael Andre, Franco Beltrametti, Julien Blaine, John Cage, Mara Cini, Brion Gysin, Dick Higgins, Harry Hoogstraten, Mathilde Lippert, Ron Silliman, and Laurie Unziker, among others.
Michael Wiater, ed.
Toothpick, Lisbon, & the Orcas Islands, vol. 3, no. 1.
Fall 1973.
Cover by Bruce Andrews. The fifth issue, described as “The Andrews/Wiater Issue.” Additional contributors include Barbara Baracks, Clark Coolidge, Larry Eigner, Dick Higgins, Sol LeWitt, Toby Lurie, Bernadette Mayer, Jerome Rothenberg, and Alan Sondheim, among many others. This magazine’s form is also unusual, known as a tête-bêche; the pages are collated in both directions until the midpoint of the work, when the reader must flip the book to continue.
Mike Crane, guest ed.
Cenizas, no. 6.
Romax, September 1980.
Displayed are works by Karl Kempton and Alison Knowles.
Cover by Michael S. Bell. The magazine was founded in 1979 by Rolando Castellón, who frequently invited guest editors. Contributors to this Fluxus-oriented issue include Richard C., Mike Crane, Michael Earley, Robert Filliou, Robert Frank, Ken Friedman, Michael Gibbs, Davi Det Hompson, Karl Kempton, Alison Knowles, Tony May, Stephen Moore, Bern Porter, Kirk Robertson, Endre Tot, Ben Vautier, Zel vonZell, D.R. Wagner, Robert Watts, and Larry Wendt.