CONCRETE POEMS
2021-ongoing, concrete, wood, 12 x 9 inches each

… And in the series “Concrete Poems” familiar words that seem to be merely vehicles of ordinary communication begin to dissolve, revealing an abyss of the absurd hidden behind their grammatically correct surface.

Theodor Adorno famously said that to write poetry after Auschwitz is impossible. The appearance of the beautiful would only serve as cover making us forget the cruel reality of our world. Many artists reacted to this challenge by making their artworks look as ugly as reality itself. However, in this way they missed the cruelty of the second degree – the cruelty of the aestheticizing cover-up. It is this cruelty of the second degree – the cruelty inherent to the artistic practice itself – that Alina makes her topic in a subtle and at the same time surprisingly direct and convincing way.

Boris Groys, ART HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

The term “Concrete poetry” is referring to an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance, It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry.  Though the term ‘concrete poetry’ is modern, the idea of using letter arrangements to enhance the meaning of a poem was popular throughout history: in Greek Alexandria during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, in religious and secular text, Futurism, Dada, and Surrealism. The term "concrete poetry" was established in Brazil after the National Exhibition of Concrete Art (1956/57).

I am taking the term “concrete poems” literally with this series, by writing my poems in the wet concrete. The series is inspired by street wall scrabbles, graffiti, and absurdist poetry.