Monday, January 20, 2014

Monday Muse: 2014 Poetry-Related Exhibitions

Today, Monday Muse rounds up a number of poetry-related exhibitions planned for this year, in the United States and abroad; among them are the following:

✭ Through May 25, the Perez Art Museum, Miami, Florida, is presenting "A Human Document: Selections from The Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry". A highlight is a rare example of concrete poetry: Un Coup de des (A Throw of the Dice), published by Stephane Mallarme in 1897.

The Sackner Archive of Visual and Concrete Poetry, assembled by Ruth and Marvin Sackner, includes rare manuscripts and published works, both historic and contemporary, as well as artists' books, typewriter art, mail art, critical texts, periodicals, performance poetry, "assemblings", micrography, correspondence, paintings, sculpture, and other fine art, and much more.

Trailer for Documentary About Sackner Archive

✭ Coming to Queens, New York City, in March: "Poetic Voices of the Muslim World", featuring photography, calligraphic masterworks, and the works of a wide range of poets, including Rumi and Adonis. The show, a two-year initiative that opened in March 2013 in Los Angeles, California, and Jacksonville, Florida, highlights poetry from Asia, Africa, and diaspora communities in the United States and focuses on Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu poetic traditions.

Presenters City Lore and Poets House have created an informative companion Website of the same name. The site explores the roots of Islamic poetry, the Qur'an and Arabic literary culture, epic and romance, and important poetic forms such as the qasida, ghazal, and zamil; spotlights Egyptian poetry, Sufi verses and hymns, and contemporary folk traditions; examines innovations and East-West dialogues, politics and poetry, and adaptations; spotlights American and global voices of poetry; and includes in English translation poems or excerpts from long works, both ancient and contemporary.

✭ The FotoFest 2014 Biennial, "View from Inside: Contemporary Arab Video, Photography, and Mixed Media", to be held in Houston, Texas, March 15 - April 27, will include a number of events showcasing contemporary poetry, literature, and music.

Obsidian Art, in the United Kingdom, is opening "The Art of Poetry" March 21. All the work in the exhibition will be inspired by or illustrate a poem.

A few days are left before submissions close. Entries, which must be by UK artists, may be in in any medium (painting, illustration, drawing, printmaking, photography, ceramics, textiles, glass, wood, metal, jewelry, etc.); they must be postmarked by February 5.

Obsidian plans to publish a book with a selection of images and poems. The show will run through April 27.

Images and Words from 2013 Exhibition "The Art of Poetry"

✭ St. Catherine of Bologna Patron of the Arts Association, Ringwood, New Jersey, will hold its "15th Annual Photo, Art & Poetry Exhibition and Sale" in March. The exhibition prospectus indicates that entries are first-come, first-served and must be in hand by March 9. The theme is "Celebrating the Light That You Are".

Crossings Gallery, in Zumbrota, Minnesota, will present "Poet Artist Collaboration XIII" in April, during National Poetry Month. The deadline for entries by poets and artists is January 29. Guidelines and entry forms are available online.

✭ The Text Festival, scheduled for May 3 through July 9 at Bury Art Museum, Lancashire, United Kingdom, will feature a number of exhibitions that examine contemporary language art (poetry, text art, sound and media text, live art): "The Language of Lists",  "Passage Collage", "Text Archive / Chances", "Polari Mission", and "Volume 3: The Dark Would".

Bury Art Gallery, Museum and Archives on FaceBook

✭ A major exhibition of the work of William Blake (1757-1827) will open at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford, in early December. The show, "William Blake: Apprentice and Master", will run through March 1, 2015. Tickets will be required.

Ashmolean on FaceBook, Twitter, and YouTube

✭ The exhibition "1914: death of the poets" opens in the fall at Bibliotheque Naitonale et Universitaire de Strausbourg (BNU), France. Tentatively scheduled for September 23 - December 20, the show will focus on the lives and writing of three European poets who died on the battlefields of World War I — Charles Peguy (1873-1914), Ernst Stadler (1883-1914), and Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) — and examine "the particular view of poets on death and the meaning of war". 



The Wilfred Owen Collection, First World War Poetry, Digital Archive (This online archive is the repository for more than 7,000 items of text, images, audio, and video.)

This year marks the centenary of the First World War, also known as the Great War. In conjunction with observances in Europe and elsewhere, an international conference on British poets of WWI will be held September 5-7 at Wadham College, Oxford. A program of lectures, panel discussions, recitals, exhibitions of items from poets' archives, and displays of poets' publications is planned. 

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