Poetry off the page

Audio update

noelwilliams — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:01:20 +0000

Not an update on this blog, as such, but for people interested in the progress of the exhibition DVD/CD, you can find a new page devoted to it on my Exploding Poetry exhibition blog, and a sample of the piece here: http://soundcloud.com/theonlym/exploding-poetry-extract

Exploding Poetry

noelwilliams — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:02:16 +0000

I’ve added now a major post to the landing page, the first on my exhibition: “Exploding Poetry”. Audio work, digital work, poetry objects, art objects from poems, collaborative poems, poems in progress, poetry workshops and readings: all in this single event. There’ll be a private view launch on the evening of Monday 8th Feb, and a reading by the Tuesday Poets to close it on March 5th.

New year, new post

noelwilliams — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:43:40 +0000

Just quickly updated the audio project page with a brief report on progress. Expect more such reports as work progresses.

More, more, more

noelwilliams — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:33:30 +0000

Too many things going on – the collaborations are all beginning to shape up. It looks like the exhibition will have a title something like “Exploding Poetry”. The audio project has passed the 100 poems mark, thanks to the efforts of my good friend Fay, and a little competition on the Ladder Writers’ website (well worth a visit if you’re a newbie writer).

It will probably not expand much further, as we’ll need January for design and editing. Meanwhile I’m working on some small animations to accompany the sound (we’re going to use DVD players in the installation, and need some visual accompaniment for the poems – however, we’ve got to be careful that they don’t clash, distract, distort – so this is a new task for me.

The collaborative poem has gained another line. However, it sort of sets the structure wobbling, so it’d be nice if someone came along and applied a corrective.

Collaboration

noelwilliams — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:18:16 +0000

(1) A new line added to the collaborative poem

(2) Collaboration with Katherine Johnson (visual artist), Ben Womack (curator) and Michael Harding (sound artist) going well at Bank Street: some fabulous ideas emerging (but too many!)

Audio update

noelwilliams — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:11:22 +0000

Added a brief encouragement to contribute, an update on progress, and the names of all writers so far involved.

Breaking the silence

noelwilliams — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:49:52 +0000

I’ve not added much to this blog for several weeks – basically was imaginatively exhausted following my Off the Shelf Workshop at Bank Street which, though really successful and stimulating, pretty much wiped me out for a while. Especially as it was followed very quickly by the first public reading by the Tuesday Poets, an event which I had main responsibility for organising.

But now I’ve begun to gear up for the next main event, which is my Bank Street exhibition in February. This will be a five room exhibition for the whole of Feb 2010, each room built around my work, but with collaboration from other artists. The exact form of this collaboration is still being worked out.

For the audio installation, I’m still looking for texts. Because the workshop was the focal point, people have now more or less stopped sending me things, but Istill need as many as I can find. The target now is 120 texts. I’ve already been given, generously and wonderfully, around 40 pieces, and I’ve 30 of my own. Whilst I’m working on more, I’d really like there to be a much higher proportion of works by other people.

So, if you want to write a small piece on women and warfare, or you already have such a piece, or know of a writer who might like to contribute to what is proving to be an excellent little collection, please get in touch.

I’m also looking for people to read and record these texts, in order to include a wide range of female voices in the piece. So far it’s proving a really rich idea: contributions have come from quite unexpected sources, some by strange serendipity, and have introduced topics I couldn’t have imagined myself – one major reason for the collaboration, of course – and the voices include accents and tones from France, Mexico, Texas, Barnsley and Blackburn.

As you’ll see on the “Audio” page, all contributors will be credited and I’m still hoping there’ll be a CD of a version of the project for everyone.

I’m looking for short texts. If you’ve something longer, I’d either want to extract a section from it, or divide it into two or more pieces. Although this might seem harsh, with some texts it works very well, as it creates a sense of “echo” (of meaning, of words, and sometimes of sounds) across different moments in the piece. The idea of many texts overlapping with, echoing off, and contrasting with, each other seems to me to be the way to work in this piece.

Notes on the workshop

noelwilliams — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:59:42 +0000

I’ve changed the landing page to include an account of my drop-in workshop. There’ll be more detail linked to it in a few days about the audio project and the digital poem in particular.

Some additions

noelwilliams — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:45:48 +0000

Updated the Sources page with a couple of additional references (and corrected some typos).

Added some encouragement to take part in the various projects, and also come to my events in Off the Shelf in October, especially the drop-in workshop on Oct 15th.

Also, added to the Audio page some notes on how the call for contributions is progressing.

EssentialWriters

noelwilliams — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:18:36 +0000

“Essential Writers”, a really useful news, competition and resource site for writers, has just posted a helpful notice for my audio installation. You can find it at: http://essentialwriters.com/women-and-warfare-3656.htm

Judy Darley, who runs it, is very helpful and has done an excellent job for me. I’m certainly going to spend more time at this site.