ArchivesSpace at the University of Iowa

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This review essay is subtitled African Conceptualism in Global Contexts and features the works of Willem Boshoff and Rachid Koraichi. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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According to Boshoff, this piece was done on the same typewriter as "KYKAFRIKANNS." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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As a conscientious objector to military service in South Africa, Boshoff served a prison term and wrote this political tract in made-up language for security reasons. This page serves as the key to deciphering the text. It is stored in the enveloper holding the pages for this tract. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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Boshoff's artist statement in 2001 on his Blind Alphabet project is reproduced in this catalogue. Extension of this project to wooden sculptures of additional shapes in this exhibition are depicted along with captions of their definitions. The title of this exhibition, Epat is coloquial French and backwards in French, it is tape, a 'slap' or 'blow'; 'tapee' is a smart answer. In the exhibition, Epat is an installation of old music casettes in an asembly of plastic boxes. The final work described in the exhibition, Kykaafrikaans - Poetry Recitals, consist of a compact disc recording of the concrete poetry work held by the Sackner Archive. The compact disc is also held by the Sackner Archive courtesy of the Michael Stevenson gallery. This catalogue depicts five typings from Kykaafrikaans. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Scope and Contents In an introductory essay, Stephen Bann writes that "artists like Willem Boshoff and Frederic Bruly Bouabre clearly demonstrate the fertility of language-based investigations on African soil: Boshoff prepared for his work with dictionaries by lengthy exercises in concrete poetry." Okwui Enwezor contributes an essay "Where, What, Who, When: A Few Notes on "African" Conceptualism." Bann adds that "Willem Boshoff's conceptual practice is an elaborate effort dedicated to the study of ignorance, that is, pushing to the point of dissolution the idea that the world is knowable. Imprisoned by South African authorities for his refusal to serve in the military (the micrographic work, Kleinpen I, was produced in prison as a way to maintain mental equilibrium)... Boshoff finds in obscure and obsolete words a way to construct a map that denies sight but empowers knowledge...His study of linguistics and Wittgensteinian philosophy led him to explore other ways of rendering words into pulsating...

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The Sackner Archive holds almost the entire manuscript for this book. A few pages were donated to the PAMM museum in Miami, Boshoff's typewriter poetry and art is all the more remarkable for the fact that he worked in complete geographical isolation from concrete poets and typewriter poets. The colophon indicates that the typings were composed on a Hermes 3000 model. This piece was exhibited in "Global Conceptualism" that started at Queens Museum and also travelled to Miami Art Museum. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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...

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These prints were generated from photographs of the original typings from the book with same title that is held by the Sackner Archive. The latter lent the original typings for these prints. A web site provides the background for each of the 12 poems. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

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The page number of the title refers to the page number of the book. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Scope and Contents This is a page from the manuscript for the only typewritten, concrete poetry book published in South Africa. 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. Missing page 87. 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...

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This poem consists of single words seemingly laid out in random positions and order. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.