Ever since Dadaists and Futurists were paving the way for letters and numbers to appear in the art world, they got used as material for expression.

40-minute mix with works by Brion Gysin, Demetrio Stratos, Henri Chopin, Khan, Lawrence Weiner and others, invented between 1917 and 2006.

Featured cover art: Konkrete Canticle ‎– Experiments In Disintegrating Language

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Listen also to

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Playlist ‘Letters & Numbers’

Peter Downsbrough – Taken down

words, numbers and music as ingredients for a poetic piece (1978, La Box)

Neil Mills with Elaine Mills – Number Poem for 2 Voices

about the meaning of intonation and rhythm when reading poetry (1971, Arts Council of Great Britain)

Halim El-Dabh – Electronics and the Word

the relation between electronic sounds and language (1959, Without Fear)

Brion Gysin – Pistol-Poem

modified pistol shots accompanied by numbers (1960, Alga Marghen)

bpNichol – Clover

poetry from the perspective of letter-objects (1971, High Barnet Company)

Vasily Kamensky – Poem To The Letter ‘k’

contributing to visual literature (1917, ReR Megacorp)

Henri Chopin – French Lesson

French for beginners (1974, ? Records)

Nelson Morpurgo – Amore (read by Vittore Baroni)

optical poetry, notated in letters going up and down (1923, VEC Audio Edition)

Christof Migone – Analphabète

a slightly contorted alphabet (1996, Avatar / OHM éditions)

Demetrio Stratos – Le Sirene

the relationship between the voice and the subconscious (1978, Cramps Records)

Lawrence Weiner – Having Been Done At / Having Been Done To

letters as code (1973, Tellus)

Klaus Groh – 100 Drops

numbers as means to connect language and nature (1982, Assessorato Cultura Comune Bondeno)

Khan – MAN SAH DAS MEER SO WIE MAN SAH

an endless stream (2006, Intermedium Records)