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Uva-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Writing and the 'Subject' Greve, C. Publication date 2004 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Greve, C. (2004). Writing and the 'Subject'. Pegasus. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:11 Oct 2021 66 PALIMPSESTS. VISUAL POETRY BY RYNIKONOVAANDD SERGEJ SIGEJ Ryy Nikonova (Anna Tarsis) and Sergej Sigej (Sigov) are perhaps the most inter- estingg visual poets of Russia today. No other poets or artists have in a more di- rectt way attempted to unite the artistic and poetic problems of the early Russian avant-gardee with the ideas of the contemporary Western and Russian avant- garde.11 Moreover, the visual poetry of Nikonova and Sigej has a definite con- gruencee with the early Russian avant-garde experiments in the integration of textt and image. This is obvious with regard to their techniques and modes of artisticc expression, as well as their ideas and conceptions. The ideas of the early avant-gardee are consistently brought into play in their poetic ideas and work. Thus,, the work of both Nikonova and Sigej can be seen as an attempt to re- thinkk some of the central issues of the early avant-garde: the close relation be- tweenn literature and art, the literally material and physical object-quality of script,, poem, and book (appealing to multiple senses), the performance ele- ment,, and the (unstable) status of the author. Bothh Nikonova and Sigej began their literary and artistic production around the beginningg of the 1960s (Nikonova in 1959 and Sigej in 1962). During the sub- sequentt 40 years, they continuously experimented with almost every possible poeticc technique and style. In 1965, Nikonova founded the Uktus School in Sverdlovskk (Ekaterinburg). Between 1962 and 1964, Sigej had been a member off Anarfut, a group of dada-futurists in Vologda. In Sverdlovsk he was one of thee founding members of the Uktus School. The group produced the handmade (andd handwritten) sami%dat)o\im2l Nomer of which a total of 35 unique issues weree made. Nomer lasted until 1974, when the group fell prey to suppression fromm the Soviet authorities. In the same year, Nikonova and Sigej moved to Ejskk near the Azov Sea. Here, they produced the sami^dat journal Transponans of whichh 36 editions appeared of 5 handmade copies each between 1979 and 1987. Thiss was the main organ of the group of transfurists to which Nikonova, Sigej, 217 7 WRITINGG AND THE 'SUBJECT' andd Boris Konstriktor (Aksel'rod) belonged.2 Inn die 1980s, Sigej became acquainted widi Nikolaj Chardziev, die Moscow col- lectorr and researcher of the early avant-garde, Igor Bachterev, who was a for- merr member of the absurdist OBERIU-group,3 and Vasilisk Gnedov.4 These meetingss were to have a profound influence on Sigej's work. The 1980s also gavee Nikonova and Sigej the opportunity to partake in the literary underground lifee of Leningrad and Moscow. In Leningrad they appeared at performances and poetryy readings. From 1986, taking part in mail-art projects, they had their first directt contact with Western experimental poets and artists. From 1987 they began too send their work to international mail-art and visual poetry exhibitions, and in 1990,, they were visited in Ejsk by Western artists. In recent years, Sigej and Ni- konovaa have made collaborative books with contemporary avant-garde visual poetss and artists. Collaborators include: Use and Pierre Gamier, Vittore Baroni, Johnn M. Bennett, R. Crozier, Carlo Belloli among others.5 The couple lived in Ejskk until 1998 when they emigrated. They now live in Germany. Throughoutt the years, Nikonova and Sigej have produced numerous hand- madee books (Nikonova has produced around 500), two sami^dat journals (No- merandmerand Transponans), and a handmade journal for international vacuum poetry {Double).{Double). They have participated in exhibitions of visual poetry and mail-art in Canada,, Brazil, Italy, Germany, and Mexico as well as in Russia, and extend theirr production not only to art and poetry but also to research and theoretical writings.. Yet, little of their work has been published.6 In Russia, a number of theoreticall articles aside, only a couple of booklets containing their work have appeared.7 7 Myy study in this chapter on the work of Nikonova and Sigej will be based on publishedd as well as unpublished material, and on interviews and conversations withh the poets. The focus will be on image-text relations in their work and in particular,, in their visual poetry. Although the poets are married and have workedd together since the mid-1960s, their approach to poetic experimentation andd visual poetry is very different. I will therefore analyze their work separately andd from different points of view using the palimpsest as a uniting element. In itss broadest definition, this is a model describing the overwriting of texts by 218 8 PALIMPSESTS.. VISUAL POETRY BY RY NIKONOVA AND SERGEJ SIGEJ texts.. In the poetics of Nikonova and Sigej it is applied to discern a relationship betweenn present and previous texts, and is equivalent to their concept of trans- ponirovanieponirovanie [transposing]. Transposition n Transpositionn is a musical term signifying the transfer of music from one musi- call key to another, for example into a key which suits the voice of a particular singer.. In this case, music is transposed into the singer's personal tonality. This elementt of acquisition is central to the concept as used by Ry Nikonova. She usedd the concept for the first time in 1968 to characterize the transfer of some- thingg already existing to a qualitatively changed mode or expression. One of her firstfirst transposed works was an American book of technical drawings featuring ann excavator. Nikonova added her own drawings on top of the technical draw- ingss thereby transforming it into a work of art. The basis for such works can be anyy text or image including literary texts, photographs, or graphic art (Nikono- vaa 1993: 255). Thee concept is also connected to Transponans. This sami^dat journal not only coveredd transposed works, but almost any kind of integrational, visual, concep- tual,, minimalist, action, vacuum, gesture, pictographic, %aum\ and abstract po- etryy or prose (Nikonova 1993: 255). It stood for an integrational line which was centrall to the concept of transfurism HAefll TpaHCc|>ypH3Ma npocra: MM noAaraeM HCOGXOAHMMM pa3BHTHe Bcex AOCTTOKeHHHH HaniHX npeAUieCTBeHHHKOB H CHHTC3 3TOrO TpaAHUHOHHOrO pKee pyccK. aBaHrapAa c coBpeivteHHOH nosTHH. KyAbTypofi. (Kuzminsky 1986:: 547). (Thee idea of transfurism is simple: we see it as imperative that all achievements of ourr predecessors are developed and that a synthesis of this traditional Russian avant-gardee with the contemporary poetic culture is reached.) Thus,, in the poetry of Nikonova and Sigej and in the poetics of transfurism, two themess are recurrent and play an important role. The first is the relation to pre- viousvious texts* Unlike the early avant-garde, their manifestos are devoid of the almost violentt attempt to free themselves from past high art culture. The relation of 219 9 WRITINGG AND THE 'SUBJECT' thee new avant-garde with previous texts appears to be an interplay between past andd present texts, as a series of returns and projections. Ry Nikonova character- izess this relationship as that of a parasite. Similar to the technique of the pal- impsest,, the new text uses the originaltext as a background or as a potential: P.H.. PIapa3HT — coBepmeHHo 3aKOHHHH npeAcraBirreAb c|)ayHM, B TOM HHCAee H XyAOiKeCTBeHHOH. CPopMM napa3HTHpOBaHHfl XVAOJKeCTBeHHMX npHHimnoB,, «HaAaraTeAbHue» TCKCTW, nirraionrHeai noTeHrjHaAOM npeAHAymeroo coAep>KaHHH, npeBpameHHoro HMH B 4>OH... HacKOAbKo napa3HTHHeHH naAmnncecT H noAOJKirreAbHoe AH STO HBAeHHe — IIOAHC|>O- HHHH noGeAHTeAH u noGe>KAeHHoro (pe^b o TeKCTax)? TpaHcnoHHpoBaHHe —— 3TO BeAt> TO»e HcnoAi>30BaHHe roTOBOH cJjopMH. C.C.. [...] npe>KAe Bcero, naAHMncecr - STO coBMecTHoe TBopnecTBo, rAe HeTT noGeAHTeAH H no6e)KAeHHoro, HO rAe ecu Hncrafl KOAAaGopamüi... Hoo Aa>Ke ecAH aBTopw He AoroBapHBaioTCH 3apaHee o COBMCCTHOM raop- HecTBe,, TO BHeApeHne B npKoe BOBce He «BARCTCR yHHHTo>KeHHeM. [...] OAHHMM CAOBOM, ceroAHKinHHH naAHMncecT — STO yBeAHHeHHe oGteMa HCKyccTBa.. (Nikonova and Sigej 1995: 26-27) (R.N.. A parasite is a completely legitimate representative of the fauna, including thee artistic. Forms of parasitizing artistic principles, superimposing texts, living on thee potential of previous texts' content, turning them into a basis... To what ex- tentt is the palimpsest a parasite, and is this a positive phenomenon - the poly- phonyy of the conqueror and the defeated (with regards to texts)? You know, transpositionn is also a utilization of ready forms. S.S.. [...] First of all, the palimpsest is a joint creation, where there is no conqueror andd no defeated part only a pure collaboration... But even if the authors did not comee to an agreement about the collaborative work beforehand, then the intrusion intoo the Other is never destructive [...]. In one word, the palimpsest of today is an increasee of art's capacity.) Inn the palimpsest, the original writing is erased or rubbed out to make place for a secondd new text.
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