Pleasures of the Text, 1979

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Collaboration with choreographer Glenda Medeiros and sound artist Stan Strickland

Electric/pneumatic spray paint guns, stencils, dancers, sound

~ 30’ x 15’

Using electric/pneumatic spray equipment, the artist, along with the two dancers, will paint a stanza of this poem on an outdoor wall during a forty-minute performance. A second stanza of the poem will be installed on an adjacent or facing wall at a second performance. In this environmental poem the work of the “printing press” is taken over by the poet and the dancers. Each stanza of the poem consists of three layers of language. Aside from the textural/tonal differences, each layer will be distinguished by variations of calligraphy, scale, and color. Installation of the three layers will be characterized by differing modes of movement by the dancers. After the performance, the poem remains on the walls. Phrases of musical notation from the performance will also remain, along with the words as part of the poem/image. The notation will give a clue to those who read the poem or imagine the minor myth of its genesis.