HENRI CHOPIN AND THE OU MAGAZINE

This exhibition, part of a series we started last year with ‘Ulises Carrión and His Bookshop’ (Other Books & So), is a homage to Carrión’s friend, artist Henri Chopin (1922–2008), pioneer of sound poetry, visual poet, essayist and publisher of the OU magazine (1963–74).

OU combined the freedom of expression and independence from conformity that characterized the legendary avant-garde magazines published during the 1960s and 1970s with the originality of its presentation. Inside a slipcase, each issue assembled in a sort of mini-exhibition original graphic works by avant-garde artists of different tendencies as well as a vinyl record of sound poetry. Together, these records present the first panorama of the international sound poetry scene, many sound poets having found their first audience in OU.

In the words of the exhibition curator, ‘with this magazine, incontestably a major work, Henri Chopin has uttered a marvelous cry which will continue to resound for many years to come’. The recent reprint of OU and the public interest it is arousing testify to the relevance of these so-called marginal publications in fostering unrestrained exploration of new creative paths.

Artists presented in the exhibition: Brion Gysin, Paul De Vree, Raoul Hausmann, Stan Hansen, Michel Seuphor, Tom Phillips, Jean Degottex and Bob Cobbing, among others.

Curator: Guy Schraenen