ASEMICS 16 GREATEST HITS (Vol. 2): Rosa Gravino (Argentina), Svenja Wahl (Germany), Theresa Williams (USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Center section of chapter for Asemics 16 (Edition #5) collaborative book by IUOMA member Rosa Gravino (Rosario, Argentina)

December 30, 2011 - As 2011 draws to a conclusion, my review of the monumental Asemics 16 collaborative mail-art book project continues to focus on what I believe are many extraordinary contributions to Edition #5. 

Even before it arrived in my mailbox, I saw images of Rosa Gravino's chapter appearing on blogs internationally. Apparently I am not alone in admiring her accomplishment. Asemics 16 inspired many artists to combine visual poetry and asemic writing. Rosa Gravino's chapter is a tremendous example of a synthesis. The colors are a delight as well as the ingenious melding of asemics, shapes, and textures - into, dare I say, a kind of skywriting? Here is another two-page spread from Rosa Gravino's chapter:

Rosa sent a message explaining her approach. She wrote: "In [Asemics 16 - 5] I have explored the idea of signs that are accumulated forming a thick matter, condensations, clouds, the sky, a window, the space,  architectural structures .... [architecture] architext; it has been a tour, a flight, I have been a pilot..." Indeed, she has touched upon a central question that has preoccupied many poets and artists: Can we ever experience the world directly or is our experience always filtered through language and its structures?

Rosa took the organic approach, which I have discussed in earlier blogs. I respond to the freedom and fluidity it expresses; this also allows exploration of the "Asemic Syntax" theme of the volume. At some point, I intend to write about the relation I see in the automatic writing experiments of the surrealists and asemic writing. Rosa Gravino's work is an excellent example. I believe it is very worthwhile to take time and examine the associative train of word fragments and images that drive her cursive asemics in this chapter. Like many mail-artists, Rosa took great care with the packaging and included some interesting material:

Rosa Gravino has been a friend more than a year now. I treasure all the work I have received from her. From time to time, she will - as they say about baseball - hit one right out of the park. That's how I feel about her Asemics #5. Vispo in Latin America is popping. Rosa's blog is a good way to learn more:

http://rosagravino.blogspot.com/

Svenja Wahl deserves an asemic medal or something...

Transparency from Svenja Wahl's chapter for Asemics 16 - Edition #5 (Heidelberg, Germany)

We already established that some of the brave troopers who contributed multiple chapters to the Asemics 16 project did suffer a kind of combat fatigue toward the end. We will long take pride in and enjoy the results, but everything did get bigger and more complicated than anyone originally anticipated. Have I missed the blogs? Did anyone notice Svenja Wahl's AMAZING chapter in Edition #5? I discovered it myself just recently. I think this deserves documentation.

The sliced "SYNTAX" title is one of the most effective uses of this approach I have seen so far.

Correct any errors in my interpretation, please: Svenja invented literature for the "Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium for Asemic Studies." This is a wonderful concept that is beautifully executed. I am not completely sure this wasn't real. While the scan is far from adequate, I also draw your attention to the beautiful asemic script she invented. It appears to have been printed, although Svenja can be such an exacting artist I assume she wrote it herself. Here are more pages from the chapter:

Many IUOMA friends recognize Svenja Wahl as a brilliant collage artist, and she has an eye and talent for finding the most interesting material, which is reflected in her chapter. She uses images that establish a tone and advance a narrative, in this case providing an interesting counterpoint to the asemics. Asemics 16 produced an extraordinary amount of theoretical discussion. Svenja's chapter is reflection of the mind-boggling aspects of asemics if you beginning intellectualizing, or intellectualizing too much. Svenja included other great mail-art material along with her chapter, including her distinctive collage work on the envelopes. She leaves nothing to chance; things are assembled with great care, even the minimally decorated envelope that contained the chapter:

The reverse side of the envelope also has some great Svenja Wahl collage work:

Mail-art by IUOMA member Svenja Wahl (Heidelberg, Germany)

Beautiful juxtaposed image collage work that I believe is so characteristic of the masters working in Belgium and Germany. Changing the subject slightly: You will note that the man on the right has letters on his smock saying: "DK ger." I compelled to feel Svenja's hurt and anger. 

This is a reference to "D-Kougar" or "DK-dagger." I am soon to lodge yet another protest with Diane Keys (DK) and KDJ of the D-KULT for their effort to enroll Svenja, a respected artist, in a completely vulgar performance piece supposedly being staged to benefit animal rights.  In truth, and I have seen documentation, the D-KULT was seeking substantial corporate sponsorship for performance art that could not possibly be staged. In the process, unfortunately, Svenja's pristine reputation was sullied on the official DK blog: in my estimation, a snake pit of innuendo and degeneracy. Anyway, I have digressed seriously. Many, many thanks to Svenja for this wonderful contribution to the Asemics 16 project.

Theresa Williams invents metasemics?

Theresa Williams' chapter pages from Asemics 16 - Edition #5 (Bowling Green, Ohio, USA)

Theresa Williams' fascinating contribution to Edition #5 is a language-centered piece that combines text fragments, asemics, and handwriting into a collage that can be read from multiple perspectives.

Theresa interweaves many themes into the piece. What I find most resonant is a meditation on writing: in this case, the physical experience of writing. Self-reflective writing is an important part of postmodernism; however, I do not believe very much work focuses on physicality and materiality the way Theresa's does. For me, it's a remarkable accomplishment and a very interesting work. So here are the rest of the pages, scanned so you can see multiple page spreads:

Note the instructions at the top and also at the right about how to hold a pen. I think Theresa found a shorthand book - excellent material to use with asemic writing.

These little handwritten pieces are wonderful!

More of the shorthand material is included on these pages. You can also see examples of Theresa Williams' asemic writing. I deeply appreciate this wonderful chapter she did for Asemics 16! Theresa Williams has a great blog that focuses on correspondence:

http://theletterproject.wordpress.com/

As ever, many thanks to the artist who participated in Asemics 16.

MAIL-ART PSYCHIC

In a minkubator, of course

Dr. Minkenstein

Pretend you are interested.

Typewriter keys

38, 92, 3, 78, 4

Ray wants to know who has the Spam Radio

Looks like mustard to me too.

SVENJA RULZ = BAN THE D-KOUGARs

[De Villo Sloan]

KDJ, I am very sorry to report that Dark wall is now reporting hearing diffiKULTy. I thought it was too much loud much. Now I'm wondering about the ring.

[De Villo Sloan]

Oh, and my deepest thanks KDJ - brilliant, brilliant - most sincerely. Did Ray entrust you with the Spam Radio?

[De Villo Sloan]

Thank you for the response, Theresa. I fear I scared you off with my critical theory disinformation campaign. I value your Edition #5 chapter greatly and will explain more later - as it is 3 am on this terrestrial plain and I don't want the spirits of the night to interfere with what I have to say.

[De Villo Sloan]

It's Heath! Heath be trash-talkin in the D-Kween's ear: "Yo DK! You bigger than Elvis! You bigger than RayJay!" She b big alright. Ship that Heathen up to Wisconsin. Make him an offer he can't refuse.

[De Villo Sloan]

And please, KDJ. You don't need to bring DK in on this. I feel guilty enough that my PO Box is being used to sell pieces of her shirt on the internet.

[De Villo Sloan]

I'm so upset - look at the typos! I have to go.

[De Villo Sloan]

KDJ, I've been waiting for a visit from the DKULT. A huge irony is that I am one of the world's biggest DKULT fans. And I've fallen into this watchdog role. You know the drill. I am preparing an official letter of protest that I will send to the Orlando office and cc to Elgin. 

In the end, it's not about Svenja. On grounds that I will clearly articulate, I just don't think the D-Kougar performance should be staged. I know it's for animal rights, but I am also concerned about the implications for the 200 people who have to recruited for the performance. This is nothing personal. In fact, Dw is sending you an Elgin Shroud shred. KDJ, I daresay you probably don't know about all the projects being launched in Elgin.

You know I also has serious reservations about the "loaves and fishes" cat food performance. You know, Diane should do an event at the Chicago Flux Fest. But I've heard nothing. I mean, geez, is she bigger than Fluxus now? Crawling around on a museum floor wearing a gas mask was good enough for John Lennon, but not DK? You know, I sincerely worry about her.

[De Villo Sloan]

Svenja, I'm glad you were able to visit the blog. Again - great work. It's difficult to see in the scans just how nice your asemic script is. It's an art.

Some of this is atonement too. Being the master book artist, Cheryl selected the formats for the editions. Frankly, I wasn't pleased with the page sizes for editions #4 & #5. Somewhere, in a snit, I called them "asemic birthday cards." A small snicker isn't worth long-term inaccuracy. Folks did great work with this format.

[Svenja Wahl]

DVS, what a great blog! Rosas and Theresas pages arrived here a few weeks ago, and I love both of them!! Many many thanks! And thank you, fellow artists for your kind comments :-)

[De Villo Sloan]

I suppose it's the residual critic in me that wants to sort through five editions & 70 artists to find the gems. Maybe not even in the spirit of mail-art. The real intent is to catch things that were overlooked, and it's just my opinion anyway. The Skybridge chapter in Edition #4 was also a kind of watershed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2F2teLoUqg&feature=youtu.be

CB, you really must speak now with more authority! I thought of you as Chairman M. of MinXus. But MinXus must surely be governed by royalty. So I suppose you are always Marie Antonette. Now you command a movement! Fill those shoes!

About Thom's knitting: Mary Campbell is an IUOMA member. She's also a Fluxus person. Her performances, from what I can gather, involve her sitting and knitting in various places. I think it's sort of an interesting take on the FluXus performance idea - and makes me think of Thom.

The Psychick mentions the Spam Radio. I was reading that one of Ray Johnson's groups was the Spam Radio Club. He found a radio that was a promotional piece by the Spam canned meat company. It was a radio in the shape of this meat can. I thought it was great. The Spam Radio would be brought out at club meetings. So where is the Spam Radio? And. my heavens, what would Ray think of MinXus?

For the Black Mountain College folks: I FINALLY found a Ray Johnson interview with John Held where Ray talks about Black Mountain. Ray identified with the "old" Black Mt.: Albers, DeKooning, Cage, Rauschenberg (although Rauschenberg was there later). Ray specifically mentions Olson and Creeley, which he lumps into the "Beat" presence, and seems - not in an angry way - to lay some blame with Charles Olson for closing the college. And indeed, Olson did finally close it. But as I've said, some things weren't meant to last.

Oh and I'm also researching a George Maciunas installation (?) called "Flux Fortress" where he converted his loft into a guarded camp with traps, tunnels, trap doors and he kept wearing different disguises. Very interesting.