Asemic Front 2 Review: Asemic Migration by Nico Vassilakis (Sigilist Press 2022)

Asemic Front 2 Review: Asemic Migration by Nico Vassilakis  (Afterward by Marton Koppany). Sigilist Press. 2022. 16 pages; eight plates

https://sigilistpress.com/

Review by De Villo Sloan

Andrew Brenza, a star of the New Concrete poetry, is sharing his creative time and energy with us further through his new publishing venture: Sigilist Press. The first release, Asemic Migration, is an exploration of asemics by Nico Vassilakis with an essential afterward by Hungarian vispo luminary Marton Koppany.  

As asemic theory develops coherence and recognizable sub-genres emerge, Vassilakis applies his ever-powerful perceptions to an area known as "found asemics" or (as I prefer) "eco-asemics." The book is a slim gathering of eight black and white photos showing cloudy skies with (sometimes linear) ranks of migrating birds, a contribution of note to eco-asemics.

Most of us reading Asemic Migration are surely drawn to the organic structures of flying birds inscribed upon the sky. Thus the collection is immediately accessible to a wide audience. 

In 2022 the "Asemic Wars" (as mail artist Moan Lisa named them) seem to be declining in vitriol; however, the concept of found asemics and eco-asemics has been questioned and rejected by various factions and individuals in vispo communities. Some might be more comfortable calling the image-text in the book simply "asemic suggestive." Whatever your point of view, Asemic Migration is a text meant to be "read." 

The black and white images (mixing to an Existential gray) are a decisive thematic and tonal choice extending, I think, beyond financial considerations at Sigilist Press. Asemic Migration might have been a series of blue skyscapes and billowing clouds on a summer day. Instead, Vassilakis has chosen well-tested avant garde tropes to cause audience dissociation (or Brechtian "alienation"). Many readers I suspect, based on my own experience, will not at first recognize the lines of birds in the images.

Thus, Vassilakis has made a contribution to the current gothic and "death metal" tones in asemics being explored by Kristine Snodgrass and others. I believe this trend is inspired by the circulation of writing about asemic theory by Jim Leftwich. Devoid of color, Asemic Migration does not gravitate toward the noir as much as it does a Melvillian paleness.

From Asemic Migration by Nico Vassilakis (Sigilist Press 2022)

From Asemic Migration (migratory bird patterns accented)

My own subjective response is to immediately contextualize Vassilakis's eight-image meditation with skyscapes by Fluxus artists Yoko Ono and Geoffrey Hendricks. Of course skyscape-themed artists are not limited to Fluxus; they are part of a venerable tradition. Vassilakis has made a vital image-text contribution.

Marton Koppany is much-admired for his vispo theory. The inclusion of his afterward is another excellent choice for Asemic Migration. Hopefully, we are all becoming better asemic readers. For this reason, I encourage asemic writers to include statements, theory and explication in their books.

In the afterward, Koppany compares Asemic Migration to bookworks by Ed Rusha [Ruscha], such as Twentysix Gasoline Stations or Thirtyfour Parking Lots as a context for Asemic Migration. 

Koppany offers other key insights as well. He writes, "Were the birds larger (or the sky smaller), we could see each and every one of them, they would not disappear behind the indecipherable letters, words and phrases created by their flight in flocks, in place. If asemic writing looks like writing but cannot be read in a strict sense, Asemic Migration describes an escape that gets you nowhere."

Vassilakis connects us to the near-universal human experiences of wonder via changings seasons and recognition of temporality. More specifically, however, he offers a relentless meditation on the primal roots of language in nature. I find the collection becomes more and more engaging with each fresh reading.

-sSs-