---

BEGINNINGS & MISSION

(bissett)
noirzvisual poetry is a voluntary collektiv
nowun is pd we ar onlee trying 2 inkrees th
presens uv konkreet visual poetree in th world
sew far we havint applied 4 or reseevd anee grants
also we have a veree collektivitee relaysyunship with authors
we publish what we want 2 n bcumming reelee enthusiastik abt
theyr work we give authors copeez 2 th authors n publicize
theyr work on our web site
noirzvisualpoetry.com
we love dewing all ths 4 konkreet visual poetree
free th word th sentens n th sylabul yes

(Broudy)
nOIR:Z began as a consequence of the ‘concrete is porous’ visual poetry exhibitions — a cross-Canada concrete tour (retrospective and current) of four cities: Toronto, Ottawa, Windsor (2018-19) and currently Victoria BC (2020). From it came the nOIR:Z mission: publish concrete artist/poets whose explorations we admire. Nationally and soon internationally. We’re not attempting to be genre-definitive. Our editions are careful, limited and priced as economically as possible.

(Dedora)
Busy with hands when the head can’t but the start making when wordless where content insists beyond the stumbling diction of words the unsatisfactory afterwords until the eye-spy seeing clearly now wants and succeeds to begin visual play… the place where handling becomes operative to expression… all the unsaid but felt waiting at the corner of the eye in a winken blinken & nod to let intelligence play in the fields of the page. Without words and I am saying so but with hands I am articulating so and stretching out platforming on the nOIR:Z basepoint dancing as fast as we can while acknowledging there is not much of a repertoire for tragic tap.

INFLUENCES

(bissett)
our influences ar our art selvs n evreething els b4 during n aftr aneething n mostlee our biggest influences ar our concrete vizual poetree

(Broudy)
…so, do cuneiform and quantum physics and Venus influence concrete poetry? yes & yes & yes…

(Dedora)
On first seeing the world of concrete poetry in bp Nichol’s THE COSMIC CHEF the road ahead opened for me because I realized the part of me that needs to get my hands on it, play with it was possible… I could do this, construct this, photograph this, and have fun with this… I could dive right in and be a part of it. My association
with nOIR:Z is that.

SMALL PRESS & OTHER INFO

(bissett)
small press work is partikularlee xciting now bcoz we dsengayge n de konstrukt th word in a continuing time whn th word is freqwentlee usd as propaganda we ar involvd in freeing n unburdening th word in all its infinit particulars uv lettr sylabul nu anshula n nuances n espeshulee meening wch is access 2 evreewun n not onlee th elite allegedlee owning th meening th sword n th bred

(Broudy)
What’s particularly exciting about this work and small press publishing in particular is its reach and its internationalism. Translators not needed. The mysterious plasma that binds language is common to all — gratifying in an artistic sense, but more importantly, exciting in the human sense — we are in fact, able to understand and appreciate one other through this, the most fringe-worthy of art pursuits — comforting perhaps during this era of immense world-wide stress.

(Dedora)
Small press publishing has always been exciting by the very fact of producing and disseminating work with a degree of immediacy. At nOIR:Z, we solicit whom we would like to see in print and once that decision is made, work submitted and design thrashed out, actual printing can happen within a week.

The foregoing is supported by a healthy dose of revolutionist zeal based on our interest in works outside the parameters of establishment publishing, yet linked to an international movement in concrete, asemic, visual, and recently photo based poetries.

---

---

---

---