The Constructivist Moment. Barrett Watten
Johns Hopkins University Press, for Louis Zukofsky, poem 4 from “29 Poems,” from Complete Short Poetry (Baltimore, 1991). © 1991 Paul Zukofsky.
Jean Day, for “The Fluidity of Attributes,” from The Literal World (Berkeley, Calif.: Tuumba Press, 1998). © 1998 Jean Day.
Lyn Hejinian, for “Exit,” from This 12 (1982). © 1982 Lyn Hejinian.
Jackson Mac Low, for “Wall Rev,” from This 12 (1982). © 1982 Jackson Mac Low.
Persea Books, New York; Carcanet Press, Manchester; and the Laura (Riding) Jackson Board of Literary Management, for Laura (Riding) Jackson, “Room,” from The Poems of Laura Riding (New York and Manchester, 1983); © 1938, 1980. In conformity with the wishes of the late Laura (Riding) Jackson, her Board of Literary Management asks us to record that, in 1941, Laura (Riding) Jackson renounced, on the grounds of linguistic principle, the writing of poetry: she had come to hold that “poetry obstructs general attainment to something better in our linguistic way-of-life than we have.”
Bill Berkson, for “Negative,” from Blue Is the Hero: Poems 1960–1975 (Kensington, Calif.: L Publications, 1976), 98. © 1976 Bill Berkson.
Barrett Watten, for “Negative,” from Frame: 1971–1990 (Los Angeles: Sun and Moon Press, 1997). © 1976, 1997 Barrett Watten.
Robert Grenier, for eleven poems from Sentences (Cambridge, Mass.: Whalecloth Press, 1978). © 1978 Robert Grenier.
Marjorie Welish, for “Black Diluvium,” from The Annotated “Here” and Selected Poems (Minneapolis: Coffee House Books, 2000). © 2000 Marjorie Welish.
Acknowledgment is likewise gratefully made to the following individuals, publishers, galleries, and estates for their permission to reproduce the following works of visual art:
Kit Robinson and This Press, for the cover of The Dolch Stanzas (San Francisco: This Press, 1976). © 1976 Kit Robinson and This Press.
Jackson Mac Low, for three cards from “56 Sets of Actions Drawn by Chance Operations and from the Basic English List by Jackson Mac Low in Spring 1961.” © 2003 Jackson Mac Low.
Bruce Andrews and Charles Bernstein, for the cover of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, no. 13 (1980). © 1980 L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E.
Ron Silliman, for the cover of Tottel’s, no. 6 (October 1971).
Alan Davies, for the covers of A Hundred Posters, no. 26 (1976); and Oculist Witnesses, no. 3 (1976). © 1976, 1978 Alan Davies.
James Sherry, for the cover of Roof, no. 4 (1977). © 1977 Segue.
Bob Perelman, for the cover of Hills, no. 4 (1977). © 1977 Bob Perelman and Francie Shaw.
Terry Swanson, for the cover of Slit Wrist, nos. 3/4 (1977). © 1977 Slit Wrist.
Steve Benson and Tom Mandel, for the cover of Miam, no. 6 (1978). © 1978 Steve Benson.
Douglas Messerli, for the cover of Là-Bas, no. 7 (1977). © 1977 Douglas Messerli.
Carla Harryman and Lyn Hejinian, for the cover of Percentage, Tuumba no. 23 (1979); and for portions of The Wide Road, in Tessera 15 (1993). © 1979, 1993 Carla Harryman and Lyn Hejinian.
Bruce Andrews, Charles Bernstein, Ray DiPalma, Steve McCaffery, and Ron Silliman, for the cover and selected pages from Legend (New York: L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E / Segue, 1980). © 1980 L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E.
Steve Benson and Barrett Watten, for portions of “Non-Events,” A Hundred Posters, no. 35 (1978). © 1978 Steve Benson and Barrett Watten.
The Estate of Gertrude Stein, for “Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas sitting in ‘Godiva.’ ”
The Ford Motor Company, for “Auto by Robot.” © 1983 Ford Motor Company.
Somewhere in Detroit, for the “Somewhere in Detroit” home page, 1997.
Catherine Cooke, for Iakov Chernikhov, illustrations from Fundamentals of Contemporary Architecture (1931); and from Construction of Architectural and Machine Forms (1932).
Artist Rights Society, for El Lissitzky, Proun 99, 1925; The Constructor, 1924; Proun 1D, c. 1919-20; Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, 1919-20; Russland, 1930; The Current Is Switched On, 1932. © 2003 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VC Bild-Kunst, Bonn.
Aleksandr Lavrentiev and Varvara Rodchenko, for Mikhail Kaufman, Portrait of Rodchenko, c. 1922; and, with MIT Press, for Alexander Rodchenko, Knigi [Books], 1925.
Transmat Records, for photograph of Derrick May, 1997; and for Derrick May, untitled photograph, 1997. © 1997 Transmat Records.
Planet E Records, for “Flexitone” page, “Planet E” web site, 1997; and the cover of e-dancer (Kevin Saunderson), heavenly, 1998. © 1998 Planet E Communications.
Wax Trax! Records, for the cover of Kenny Larkin, Azimuth, 1994. © 1994 Wax Trax! Records.
Barrett Watten, for a portion of “The Word,” Conduit (1988). © 1988, 1997 Barrett Watten.
Seyed Alavi, for Blueprints of the Times, 1990.
Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, and Erik Bulatov, for I Am Going, 1975; and Krassikov Street, 1976.
Mary Boone Gallery, New York, for Barbara Kruger, untitled (“Your Manias Become Science”), 1981. © Barbara Kruger 1984.
Lannan Foundation, for Chris Burden, The Other Vietnam Memorial, 1991.
Joseph Kosuth and Artists Rights Society, for untitled work (”nothing”), c. 1966-68. © 2003 Joseph Kosuth/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Bill Berkson and David McKee Gallery, New York, for Berkson and Philip Guston, Negative, 1973.
Robert Grenier, for “my heart is beating / I am a beast” (four versions), n.d.; “LOON,” n.d.; “glitter / sit here . . . ,” 1996; and “west / no farther . . .,” 1996. © 1996 Robert Grenier.
The Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P.P.O.W., New York, for untitled, 1993; and untitled, 1990.
The Estate of Andrei Tarkovsky, for still from Tarkovsky, Mirror, 1973. © 1986 Andrei Tarkovsky and Olga Surkova.
Ilya Kabakov, for “The Man Who Flew into His Picture”; “The Man Who Flew into Space from His Apartment”; and “The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away,” from Ten Characters (1989). © 1989 Ilya Kabakov.
Stan Douglas and David Zwirner Gallery, New York, for Collapsed House, 1998; Sections 5 and 8 of Herman Gardens, 1999; Lafayette Park, 1999; Eastern Border of Indian Village, 1998; House with Wood-Grain Tile, 1998; View of I-94 and Downtown Detroit, 1998; Michigan Theater, 1998. © 1998, 1999 Stan Douglas.
Lastly, grateful acknowledgment is made to Wayne State University for support that was of crucial help in completing the present work, in both part and whole: from the Office of the Provost, a Career Development Chair; from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, a University Research Grant; from the College of Liberal Arts, a Research and Inquiry Grant and sabbatical leave; and from the Humanities Center, a Faculty Fellowship.
INTRODUCTION
FROM MATERIAL TEXT
TO CULTURAL POETICS
I feel my “I” is much too small for me.
— Vladimir Mayakovsky
The contraction which is felt.
— William Carlos Williams
The Constructivist Moment