Poetry in the Stedelijk
A series of poetry and typography exhibitions conceived and curated by Meghan Ferrill for the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art Amsterdam, the Netherlands
I lift my eyes? / Discovering what survives translation true.
So concludes *"What Survives," a poem by Seamus Heaney. It was composed in the autumn of 1995 after having witnessed his poetry writ large on the walls of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Heaney was the first of eight poets to participate in the series, Poetry in the Stedelijk.
The idea to bring poetry into the museum and to give it a place among the art - to assign it a gallery - was (and still is) unprecedented. When Seamus Heaney agreed to participate, he had no idea what to expect. Indeed, it was difficult for any of us to imagine. Poets would be selected and typographers would be chosen. (Typography is the image of language.) Out of these pairs of poets and typographers, individual installations would be created, lifting poetry off the page and assigning it to a 3-dimensional space. The impetus: to reassert the notion of poetry as a public art, sister to painting and relative to the visual arts.
It was a constructive experiment. A vital seed that took root and bore fruit.
Seamus Heaney composed a poem. The typographer Karel Martens went on to design the façade of a low-lying industrial building, reproducing a poem by K. Schippers in monumental letterforms; four turns round the building are required to read the poem in its entirety. For the Stedelijk series, Martens had stenciled 6 of Peter Reading?s poems onto the white brick walls of the museum?s upstairs foyer. At the time, Martens spoke [/infotext] excitedly about the possibility of stenciling the entire façade of a building. The idea became a reality. Design theorist Hugues Boekraad, who followed the series with a critical eye, found the endeavor worthy of continued investigation: Owing to his initiative, first-year Masters?students at Sint Joost Art Academy in Breda are assigned to work with poetry in public space.
I would like to believe the series was fruitful for each of the poets and typographers involved; that, in some way, directly or indirectly, it had an affect on their work; and that museum visitors were moved on some level by the sight and sound of the words comprising the installations.
There is no doubt but that it was an exceptional series, thanks to Rudi Fuchs (a poet at heart), whose willingness to experiment gave way to what Seamus Heaney called "a sensation of wholeness."
* Heaney's poem, written in response to the installation of his work in the Stedelijk Museum, was later published as "Remembered Columns" in The Spirit Level (1996).
This article by Meghan Ferrill was published in Acquisitions 1993-2003, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam a tribute to Rudi Fuchs (a Stedelijk Museum publication).
Poetry in the Stedelijk 1995-1997
Featured poets / typographers
Seamus Heaney (near Castledawson, Northern Ireland 1939)
Walter Nikkels (Lobith, the Netherlands 1940)
28.01 ? 27.03.1995
Hugo Claus (Bruges, Belgium 1929)
Anthon Beeke (Amsterdam, the Netherlands 1940)
29.04 ? 02.07.1996
Peter Reading (Liverpool, England 1946)
Karel Martens (Mook, the Netherlands 1939)
with Roger Willems (Tilburg, the Netherlands 1969)
15.09 ? 29.10-1995
Gerrit Kouwenaar (Amsterdam, the Netherlands 1923)
Kees Nieuwenhuijzen (Utrecht, the Netherlands 1933)
09.02 ? 31.03.1996
Gwendolyn Brooks (Topeka, Kansas USA,1917)
Tessa van der Waals (Groningen, the Netherlands 1960)
14.06 ? 28.07.1996
Joseph Brodsky (Leningrad, Russia 1940)
Wigger Bierma (Hengelo, the Netherlands 1958)
06.09 ? 03.11.1996
Remco Campert (The Hague, the Netherlands 1929)
Gracia Lebbink (Geldrop, the Netherlands 1963)
01.02 ? 17.03.1997
Wislawa Szymborska (Bnin, Poland 1923)
Wojtek Freudenreich (Poznan, Poland 1939)
04.10 ? 23.11.1997
Meghan FerrillA series of poetry and typography exhibitions conceived and curated by Meghan Ferrill for the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art Amsterdam, the Netherlands
I lift my eyes? / Discovering what survives translation true.
So concludes *"What Survives," a poem by Seamus Heaney. It was composed in the autumn of 1995 after having witnessed his poetry writ large on the walls of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Heaney was the first of eight poets to participate in the series, Poetry in the Stedelijk.
The idea to bring poetry into the museum and to give it a place among the art - to assign it a gallery - was (and still is) unprecedented. When Seamus Heaney agreed to participate, he had no idea what to expect. Indeed, it was difficult for any of us to imagine. Poets would be selected and typographers would be chosen. (Typography is the image of language.) Out of these pairs of poets and typographers, individual installations would be created, lifting poetry off the page and assigning it to a 3-dimensional space. The impetus: to reassert the notion of poetry as a public art, sister to painting and relative to the visual arts.
It was a constructive experiment. A vital seed that took root and bore fruit.
Seamus Heaney composed a poem. The typographer Karel Martens went on to design the façade of a low-lying industrial building, reproducing a poem by K. Schippers in monumental letterforms; four turns round the building are required to read the poem in its entirety. For the Stedelijk series, Martens had stenciled 6 of Peter Reading?s poems onto the white brick walls of the museum?s upstairs foyer. At the time, Martens spoke [/infotext] excitedly about the possibility of stenciling the entire façade of a building. The idea became a reality. Design theorist Hugues Boekraad, who followed the series with a critical eye, found the endeavor worthy of continued investigation: Owing to his initiative, first-year Masters?students at Sint Joost Art Academy in Breda are assigned to work with poetry in public space.
I would like to believe the series was fruitful for each of the poets and typographers involved; that, in some way, directly or indirectly, it had an affect on their work; and that museum visitors were moved on some level by the sight and sound of the words comprising the installations.
There is no doubt but that it was an exceptional series, thanks to Rudi Fuchs (a poet at heart), whose willingness to experiment gave way to what Seamus Heaney called "a sensation of wholeness."
*
* Heaney's poem, written in response to the installation of his work in the Stedelijk Museum, was later published as "Remembered Columns" in The Spirit Level (1996).
This article by Meghan Ferrill was published in Acquisitions 1993-2003, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam a tribute to Rudi Fuchs (a Stedelijk Museum publication).
*
Poetry in the Stedelijk 1995-1997
Featured poets / typographers
Seamus Heaney (near Castledawson, Northern Ireland 1939)
Walter Nikkels (Lobith, the Netherlands 1940)
28.01 ? 27.03.1995
Hugo Claus (Bruges, Belgium 1929)
Anthon Beeke (Amsterdam, the Netherlands 1940)
29.04 ? 02.07.1996
Peter Reading (Liverpool, England 1946)
Karel Martens (Mook, the Netherlands 1939)
with Roger Willems (Tilburg, the Netherlands 1969)
15.09 ? 29.10-1995
Gerrit Kouwenaar (Amsterdam, the Netherlands 1923)
Kees Nieuwenhuijzen (Utrecht, the Netherlands 1933)
09.02 ? 31.03.1996
Gwendolyn Brooks (Topeka, Kansas USA,1917)
Tessa van der Waals (Groningen, the Netherlands 1960)
14.06 ? 28.07.1996
Joseph Brodsky (Leningrad, Russia 1940)
Wigger Bierma (Hengelo, the Netherlands 1958)
06.09 ? 03.11.1996
Remco Campert (The Hague, the Netherlands 1929)
Gracia Lebbink (Geldrop, the Netherlands 1963)
01.02 ? 17.03.1997
Wislawa Szymborska (Bnin, Poland 1923)
Wojtek Freudenreich (Poznan, Poland 1939)
04.10 ? 23.11.1997