Anagrams and lipograms
At the Alhambra, we welcome two poetic sound exhibits inspired by concrete poetry and Oulipo. Using eight letters and as many solenoids, a computer keyboard writes a poem of alphabetical permutations by itself; the meaning must be deciphered by examining the keys. This work by Nathalie Preisig was designed at the Geneva School of Art and Design.
The Portraits anagrammatiques that I wrote in the 1990s are an
attempt to characterise the aesthetic of a number of composers using only the letters in their names. A program generates the anagrams and selects those that can form phrases. The organisation of these automatic fragments is assured by the writer, who tries to work out the meaning of the phrases. Big, white totem poles, made by the graphic design workshop We Play Design in Lausanne, embody this onomastic poetry.
Marc Texier - director of Archipel
