Since it appeared in the important concept art of the MOMA exhibition “Information” in 1970, Dial poem For poetry followers in the extended field, it has always been the root of fascination, and not just some fun. The pride of the work created in 1969 by New York City artist and connector John Giorno, is simple in simulation: dial the number and hear a reading of a poem. Now, it follows a parade of many other content to the new home online.
Click on the rendering of an old phone with thick curls Dial poem and the newer ones written, recorded and spread in the decades since. Peter Schjeldahl collected a small sample on the first day of the site, including Peter Schjeldahl’s “To the National Council for the Arts”, “What you should know is the poet”, Gary Snyder’s “Ohio, your dog needs your dog needs you”, Muhammed Zen Siddiq Yusef ibrahim and “cide ciidade cidade cidade a pae s of Homem nu a jo -pae o jonu”. Other poets who contributed include Laurie Anderson, Juliana Hoxterbull, William S. Bolus, Anne Waldman, Amiri Baraka, John Ashbury, Abby Hoffman, Bobby Sear, and others. (Early versions found in the 1970 MOMA exhibition tend to be so ‘radical’ poets that FBI agents are said to have spent the day at the exhibition in the museum.)
The new online version was created by Giorno Poetry Systems, a system that focuses on contemporary programs with modern programming and various events, including poems written for recently added international versions. Dial poem In France, Mexico, Thailand, Italy, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Brazil. The poems are recited in the native language with subtitles but not translated. The Brazilian version is supported by art collector Pedro Barbosa, who is showing the project in space affiliated with São Paulo’s Coleção Moraes-Barbosa.
As Barbosa told New York Times“We thought about how you achieve a different audience. Someone in the middle of the Amazon jungle can dial the numbers and can access a poem.”
