E3 art space: 9 June - 6 July 2008

An Exhibition of Concrete Poetry: Space As a Visited Place of Unification: The Cognitive and Creative Use of Word Play

Concrete Poetry offers us a playful and engaging format accessible to children, young adults and the general public that links the visual to the aural experience. While many find their first engagement with art or creative work as complex or inaccessible; the use of game-playing allows the visitor to both engage and become part of the creative process.

Words, particularly in the English language can both unite and divide and it is by allowing multiple readings, interaction and creative involvement that sets the stage for a most intriguing activity - the creation of multiple meanings. In reading Concrete Poetry the questions - 'what do you mean?' and 'what do I understand?' are paramount.

At this exhibition the process of visitor involvement in puzzle-making and puzzle-solving are encouraged. I find the young are usually the most enthusiastic players in story telling, as the re-interpretation and retelling are enhanced by the inclusion of their own personal standpoint. Concrete Poetry engages all at the most basic of levels of enjoyment as we all like to be involved in suggesting one or many solutions to the puzzle set before us.

If we begin with the placement of simple word-forms as in the exhibition consisting of twenty four pieces each with four groups of four-letter words. These words can be read both vertically and horizontally; the complexities of reading meaning from the four explicitly different words containing their own intrinsic ideas allows us the ultimate engagement with art - it is what we think it is. This sharing and involvement with the process of understanding and interpretation at the exhibition adds to each one's own creative spirit of place, of time and of narrative.

This exhibition invites you to enjoy and acknowledge the playful nature within us all and engage with and express publicly our interpretive creativity.

Andrew Keen, Associate Professor, Coordinator of the Professional Postgraduate Degrees, School of Visual and Performing Arts, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW. Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers, London.

Opening: Saturday 14 June

Floor Talks: Saturday 28 June 11.00 - 12.00 / Saturday 5 July 11.00 - 12.00

Touring Schedule:

Australia

Wagga Wagga Art Gallery NSW, 2008
Queensland University of Technology, Oratunga Research Centre, 2009
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, B8 Exhibition Space, 2009   

United Kingdom

University of Westminster, London School of Architecture Gallery, 2009 

Slovenia

Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, 2009
Dessa Gallery, Ljubljana, 2009