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Kykafrikaans / Boshoff, Willem Hendrik., 1980

 Item
Identifier: CC-24223-24675

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Scope and Contents

This is the manuscript for the only typewritten, concrete poetry book published in South Africa. Each page is recorded as a single entry into the database. Boshoff achieved optical effects by weighting the density of typewritten letters in different portions of the poem through overtyping and creating diagonals by placement of the same letter in that direction. Includes an optical effects poem in a circular shape achieved by formating typewritten fragments in the manner of Houedard. This work was purchased from Tony Zwicker after the Sackners met Boshoff in 1996 in Zwicker's Grammercy Park loft. It was exhibited at Miami Art Museum during the Global Conceptualism show. Boshoff in "word forms and language shapes 1975 - 2007" writes the following: The first edition of this work is an anthology of concrete poetry published by Uitgewery Pannevis, which was founded by Markus de Jong. During its short existence it focused on printing alternative Afrikaans literature. The book comprises black and white reproductions of the 90 KYKAFRIKAANS poems, which I had originally created on a manual typewriter, each on an A4 sheet of paper. Originally 1 000 copies of KYKAFRIKAANS were printed. The anthology has been out of print for more than 25 years and has become a collector's item. Unfortunately one of the original A4 poems was lost. The remaining poems are now a part of the Sackner Archives of Concrete and Visual Poetry in Miami, Florida, USA. Few conceptual poems have ever been written in Afrikaans, and KYKAFRIKAANS is arguably the only full anthology of such divergent poetry to have been published in this beleaguered 'modern' South African language. Simplistically one could say that in KYKAFRIKAANS the typewriter is posited as an instrument for processing text, in much the same manner as a brush or pencil functions in painting or drawing. At face value the poems have been approached in a lettrist way, similar to the mode in which many artists address a canvas or drawing. However, on closer inspection these eccentric poems are at odds with writing and interpretation. At times they take issue with literary prejudices such as the conventional requirements of coherence and economy in writing. They frequently subvert orthodoxy and instead venerate triviality or ambiguity in the guise of being meticulously and assiduously composed. In 1980, eight poems were selected from KYKAFRIKAANS, enlarged, silk-screened, and published in a limited edition, some in an edition of ten copies and the others in editions of eight copies or less. In 2003, a further 12 poems were chosen for a portfolio of silk-screen prints, this time produced with the help of Jonathan Comerford from Hardground Printmakers, Cape Town. This KYKAFRIKAANS portfolio was published in an edition of 20 copies. Until the beginning of the 1990s, KYKAFRIKAANS was denied a place in the literary and art circles of South Africa. Today, however, there is a great demand for information about the anthology. KYKAFRIKAANS now occupies a respected place in the history of art and literature, both in South Africa and abroad. Three of the pages are matted and stored in the Typebound box. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates

  • Creation: 1980

Creator

Extent

0 See container summary (1 manuscript + 90 pages (typed) + 2 pages (photocopied) + 4 pages (typed, matted) + 2 pages (folded, graphite, handwriting)) ; pages 36 x 28 cm

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Custodial History

The Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, on loan from Ruth and Marvin A. Sackner and the Sackner Family Partnership.

General

Published: Johannesburg, South Africa : [Publisher not identified]. Signed by: W. Boshoff '80 (l.r.- pages typed & matted); Willem Boshoff (b.c.- page 17 verso); W. Boshoff '80 (l.r.- page 55); W. Boshoff '80 (l.r.- page 71); W. Boshoff '80 (l.r.- page 80); W. Boshoff '80 (l.r.- page 82). Nationality of creator: South African. General: About 1 total copies. General: Added by: CONV; updated by: MARVIN.

Repository Details

Part of the The Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry Repository

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