Peter Bichsel   Fine Books

Spoerri, Daniel. material 1. Kleine Anthologie konkreter Poesie.

With 2 punch tapes, 1 sheet with musical notation, different sheets in colour, partly cut, and xerox-copies, all inserted between the text leaves. 26 typegraphic leaves. Large 8vo. Loose sheets between black covers with red-stencilled „1“ on front and back cover and with multiply repeated title in white on the right margins of both covers. Bound with 2 rivets (one replaced). – Darmstadt, Daniel Spoerri, (1958).

First issue (of four published, i. e. 1–3, 5) of one of the most important periodical of concrete poetry. Inspired by the magazine for art and concrete poetry „Spirale“, this series was founded by Daniel Spoerri (b. 1930). It’s first issue was cheaply produced with volunteer help of a stage technician on the Darmstadt theatre’s own hectograph and was distributed in c. 300 copies, which were sent to prospective subscribers with a request to return the issue if they are uninterested. Literary contributors are: Josef Albers, Louis Aragon, Claus Bremer (2) Carlo Belloli, Eugen Gomringer (3), Helmut Heissenbüttel (3), Antony Kok, Marc Sabathier Leveque, Dieter Roth (5), Daniel Spoerri (3), and Nicolaes Werkman. Beyond this literary contributions, Eugen Gomringer and Claus Bremer contributed both a theoretical text about „konstellationen“ and „ideograms“ (Gomringer) resp. „konkrete dichtung“ (Bremer). A short reminiscence is given to the 16th-century author Johannes Reuchlin and his book „de arte caballistica“ in which he mentions three methods to discover hidden literally meaning, methods which are familiar to modern concrete poetry: 1) by changing the letters in a word; 2) by stretching a word; 3) by exchanging letters. One present text by Dieter Roth (“etvas tvn das laicht fält“) is not mentioned in the index; this same text will be present again in no. 2 of „material“, which was entirely created by Dieter Roth. According to the statement by Daniel Spoerri on the index sheet the text order is completely free. Everyone can change the order of the sheets by opening the rivets. So each copy is randomly arranged and thus unique. The tiped single sheet press release which was included with the first issue is here present as Xerox copy. – Aarons/Roth, eds., In Numbers: Serial Publications by Artists Since 1955 (2009), p. 265ff.; Allen, Artist’s Magazines. An Alternative Space for Art (2011), p. 277. – Spine defective, 1 rivet replaced. – Best.-Nr. 17128