in focus:
lily greenham—internationale sprachexperimente der 50/60er jahre

as part of edition hoffmann's publishing practice, in 1970, the vinyl record "internationale sprachexperimente der 50er/60er" was released. on the record’s a-side lily greenham reads from texts by fellow visual/concrete poets elena asins, ilse & pierre garnier, max bense et. al. the b-side features greenham's own ‘lingual music’. with her voice as the instrument, words are cut, spliced, pitched and chopped so only sound fragments isolated from the environment of their traditional meaning remain.

album cover: "internationale sprachexperimmente der 50/60er jahre" (1970), 31,5 x 31,5 cm — album cover: "internationale sprachexperimmente der 50/60er jahre" (1970), 31,5 × 31,5 cm

i consider it essential to take the "turning back to semantics". there are several reasons: the most important of these is purposeful communication without consideration of neither commercialized–nor "underground"–trends of our epoch

lily greenham, 1970

"a few remarks" by lily greenham:

(quotation: paul de vree, catalogue "concrete poetry", stedelijk museum 1970)

"….the term semantics, derived from the greek adjective. semantics (that which means, signifies, informs). it denotes the relationship between linguistic form and the concomitant mental process of symbolism involved in the act of speech. in broader out line, semantics is the doctrine of the meaning of words, a side-discipline of linguistics, a science involved in the study of language and languages in all their aspects (structure, history, mutual relations, interrelations with all other modes of human behaviour)..."

i consider it essential to take the "turning back to semantics". there are several reasons: the most important of these is purposeful communication without consideration of neither commercialized- nor "underground"- trends of our epoch.

if art or not art, revolutionary or reactionary, commited or not commited, value-"ble" or value-"free”, new or old, all this is no concern of mine.

i find it though necessary that all artistic manifestation puts aii & everything into question, including the "most progressive concepts". a progressive concept of today is conservative tomorrow, i.e. if it doesn't work. if it functions it is no concept anymore.

through my texts i aim to indicate how absurd the daily/monthly/annual changing “slogans” are when they are taken too serious and become "the obsessive principle of action".

the fact that i write in english has following explanation: the uncomplicated construction of the language, its elementarity and the multifarious-significance of many words fascinate me. from my point of view it is nearly unavoidable to develop a certain humour employing the english language. humour is to my mind the only "stable datum" which always has survived any "ism" and always will survive.

lily greenham, 1970

elena asisns's written permission to use her writing for "internationale sprachexperimmente"

edwin morgan says thank you after the receipt of the album

pierre garnier's reply to edition hoffmann's rights and permissions request

ernst jandl refers to his publisher luchterhand verlag

mail order postcard for "internationale sprachexperimmente der 50/60er jahre" (1970)

album back cover: "internationale sprachexperimmente der 50/60er jahre" (1970), 31,5 x 31,5 cm — album back cover: "internationale sprachexperimmente der 50/60er jahre" (1970), 31,5 × 31,5 cm

sleve notes, front: "internationale sprachexperimmente der 50/60er jahre" (1970), 31,5 x 31,5 cm — sleve notes, front: "internationale sprachexperimmente der 50/60er jahre" (1970), 31,5 × 31,5 cm

sleve notes, back: "internationale sprachexperimmente der 50/60er jahre" (1970), 31,5 x 31,5 cm — sleve notes, back: "internationale sprachexperimmente der 50/60er jahre" (1970), 31,5 × 31,5 cm

supported by the federal minister for culture and media, neustart kultur and stiftung kunstfonds

Gefördert von der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien