Engaged Visuality: The Italian and Belgian Poesia Visiva Phenomenon in the 60s and 70s (International Symposium)

We would like to call the attention to the call for contribution for the International Symposium Engaged Visuality: The Italian and Belgian Poesia Visiva Phenomenon in the 60s and 70s, which will take place at the Academia Belgica and Università  degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza on December 16-17, 2021.

In a historical and cultural moment, in which poetry could present itself as “phono-, ideo-, typo-, icono, photographical; mono-, stereo-, quadro-, ambiophonic; phonographic, bioscopic, kinetic; kinesic, eatable, odorous, tangible” (H. Damen, 1972), the international and countercultural experiences of Italian and Belgian visual poets drew a cutting-edge roadmap within the wider and multifaceted context of neo-avant-garde experimental poetry of the 1960s and 1970s by creating a unique model of interdisciplinary cooperation where verbivocovisual research, media discourses, and social criticism strongly converged. Combining insights from the fields of art history, literary criticism, and media studies, “Engaged Visuality” investigates the impact of new media, political imagery, and technologies on poesia visiva phenomenon by focusing on a bilateral case study rarely analyzed from a comparative and transcultural perspective: the foundation of the international poetry magazine “Lotta Poetica”  (first series: 1971-75) by Sarenco and Paul De Vree, i.e., the aim of Italian and Belgian interartistic exchanges, co-authored initiatives, and cross-disciplinary inquiries.

Organised by Maria Elena Minuto (Université de Liège; KU Leuven) and Jan De Vree (M HKA Museum, Antwerp), the symposium is supported by a multitude of European institutions and research teams. Interdisciplinary Italy is present in the person of Professor Giuliana Pieri, who is part of the Scientific Committee.

For further details about the event and how to apply, please consult the Symposium’s concept.

Submissions deadline: June 30, 2021

Paul De Vree, Hysteria Makes History, 1973. Collection M HKA, Antwerp / Collection Flemish Community © M HKA