In this lesson, we explored the idea of text scores and concrete poetry, as well as the use of voice.

Before this lesson, I was very unfamiliar with concrete poetry. From memory, concrete poetry is a form of poetry that relies less on the lyrical content of a poem, but focuses heavily on the graphic and visual aspect of the poetry. When concrete poetry is created, typeface, words and syllables are all elements that are experimented with. I found this really interesting. The fact that poetry is widely and mostly known as a form of art that is to be consumed through verbal exercises was always the norm to me, but the graphic aspect makes a lot of sense after learning about it. In my opinion, I think concrete poetry draws a lot of parallels to social media and the presentation of ones self on social media. For example, social media is used as a means of socialising; its sole purpose is communication. However as time has gone on, aesthetic choices have become almost as important as the communication itself. The aesthetic, visual nature has outweighed the main purpose of social media in some respects. I feel the same about concrete poetry. Less focus is put onto the verbal content of the poetry (its original purpose) and more focus is put on the aesthetic element of the poetry. In my opinion (having not conducted much of my own research into concrete poetry as of yet) I feel as though concrete poetry would be a great vehicle to deliver social and political messages through the lens of ‘fine art’

I’m not familiar with using my voice in my work, but I always admire the way in which voice can be manipulated and interpreted. Learning about Ingrid’s work really opened my eyes to the potential of voice, both as a tool to help people and as a tool to create unique art.

I really like the way Susu Laroche from the band The Fertile Crescent uses her voice in this track as an ambient tool, creating a ritualistic atmosphere; almost a bed of audio for her main vocals which act as a poem.