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Active Poetry. Poem by Ewa

Active Poetry. Poem by Ewa
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    • Active Poetry. Poem by Ewa
    • Poezja Aktywna. Poemat Ewy
  • 1971-73
  • 8 mm film transferred to digital, b&w, no sound
  • 5min, 45sec
During the early 1970s, Ewa Partum wrote several poems entitled “Poem by Ewa” that feature successively different style and content. Instead of reading these poems in front of a camera, Partum chose to arrange five silent video sequences over a period of time to which she gave the collective title “Active Poetry.” Here, the word “active” relates to actions that the artist undertook in order to visualize the physicality of the letters needed to create written language in general and poems in particular. The first sequence shows the artist grouping cut-out white paper letters around a tree in the woods, the second shows a whole pile of such letters mixed together, and the third shows the artist throwing the letters down a steep hill strewn with rocks and rubble. In the fourth sequence, one sees only the open pages of a book that the artist is reading. The fifth sequence then shows her letters floating in the sea, gradually disappearing amidst the waves. The impact of such letters and the underlying poetic notion are emphasized when presented in an exhibition context, with the cut-outs spread across the floor in order to heighten the haptic quality visualized in these video sequences. W.S.