129 lines
7.3 KiB
Plaintext
129 lines
7.3 KiB
Plaintext
Foreward to _ASSEMBLING 12_
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by Karl Young
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It's time to assemble again -- and about time, too. It's been five
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years since the last issue of _Assembling_ appeared, and that's
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five years too many.
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_Assembling_ represents the only major innovation in magazine
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publishing since Ezra Pound's experiments with _The Exile_ in 1917.
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The four issues of _The Exile_ under Pound's editorship show an
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all-encompassing intellect attempting to fuse the contributions of
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various artists into single units, something like novels or Pound's
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own _Cantos_. _Assembling_ goes in just the opposite direction: no
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central intelligence controls the magazine, the magazine is a
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spontaneous event in which no editor or contributor dominates
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anything. Curiously enough, however, issues of _Assembling_ can
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be read as whole entities, raising several of this century's most
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important art forms to high levels. Issues of Assembling can be read
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as chance-generated collages, and as spontaneous pieces of printed
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performance art. The rapid parataxis of _Assembling's_ pages goes
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beyond the scope of Paris-Zurich dada; nothing conceived in the 20's
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dared be as democratic or as anti-authoritarian.
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_Assembling_ offers contributors as much freedom as magazine format
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can handle. The only restrictions placed on participants are the
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8 1/2" x 11" page format and limitation on the number of sheets each
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can send. As far as the graphic nature of their work goes,
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contributors are limited only by their own abilities. This is ideal
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for artists who can print or otherwise produce their own work; for
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those who can't, a trip to a local printer should be instructive.
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Whatever the case, contributors don't run into editorial restrictions
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like "no half-tones" or "no large solids" or "no color" --
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restrictions common to most magazines. Work appears as contributors
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want it to appear: they need fear no censorship; any typos in the work
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are their own fault; any compromises that may be made are their own
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responsibility. Anyone can contribute. Participants contribute the work
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that seems most appropriate to them. THEY, rather than an editor,
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decide what is their best work, or what they feel best represents them,
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or what they feel would be most useful in contacting other people
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working in similar modes, or what seems most appropriate to a
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"happening" of this sort -- some have sent work that tests the limits
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of the format or challenges the basic premises of the magazine.
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Seasoned veterans and previously unpublished artists have contributed
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to the magazine. Some inclusions have been wildly experimental, others
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have been surprisingly conservative. Contributions have ranged from
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spartan minimalism to extravagant neo-baroque productions, including
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examples of nearly every current form of experimentation in print art.
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Some participants have seen _Assembling_ as an opportunity to publish
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their most sober efforts; others have seen the magazine as a sort of
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party, an opportunity to celebrate in print.
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Despite the lack of a central, selecting authority, the quality level
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of work presented in _Assembling_ has been better than that of most
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magazines edited along conventional authoritarian lines. Some of the
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most amusing work that has appeared in _Assembling_ has been of the
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"let's see what we can get away with" variety. Critics may condemn this
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sort of thing, but I have nothing against this sort of comedy -- I still
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get a laugh out of some of these pieces and realize that they could not
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have been done without a magazine like _Assembling_ to act as stimulus
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and foil. If you wish, you can read something deeper into these pieces:
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even when given as much freedom as magazine format allows, some people
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will still strive for more. I'm not going to object to that impulse,
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particularly at a time as oppressive and complacent as the present.
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Contributions to _Assembling_ range from high seriousness to slap stick,
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allowing each inclusion to stand out distinctly and increasing the
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variety of elements in the collage.
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"Freedom demands responsibility" runs an old saw. _Assembling_ demands
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responsibility on the part of both contributors and readers.
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Contributors who send inferior work must bear the consequences --
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they can't blame an editor. Just as important is the responsibility
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placed on readers. Implicit behind magazines edited by a central
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authority is the assurance that the work published has value. Readers
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interested in high quality should always read critically, but that is
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not always the case. Many readers feel the need to be reassured by an
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authority figure; feel that a work must be consecrated by some sort
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of expert; feel the need to be told what is good and what is not.
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_Assembling_ makes no such assurance; publication in _Assembling_ does
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not consecrate or validate anything. Instead, it returns the
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responsibility of judgment to the reader, where it belongs.
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In the past, _Assembling_ has brought together the work of people
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going in radically different directions. This can help break down the
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self-ghettoization common in the arts today. In past issues, concrete
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poetry has appeared adjacent to performance scores, language-centered
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pieces have faced projective verse, mail art has appeared in
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conjunction with conceptual work, fluxus has bumped into academia,
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etc. This, too, increases the variety of the collage. But more
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important, I hope that _Assembling_ will continue to be eclectic, not
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being dominated by any one clique or school or movement. Many of us
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seem to be hiding more and more in our own little coteries, ignoring
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work in other modes. I doubt that _Assembling_ can change this
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general tendency, but I hope it can continue to be a place where
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different points of view and opposing methods can come together,
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encouraging interaction, constructive debate, and, ideally, mutual
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tolerance.
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The only contributions to this issue of _Assembling_ I've seen are
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my own. I'm curious to see how much this issue differs from its
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predecessors. I'm not happy with the one-sheet-from-each-contributor
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limitation, though this will make the parataxis of the collage more
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rapid and more pronounced. I imagine there will be quite a few new
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contributors not represented in previous issues. The suggestion that
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contributors address the theme "our place in nature and nature's place
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in us" may produce interesting results. I assume that many contributors
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will disregard this theme, so that it will appear sporadically through
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the magazine -- a flexible motif recurring through the collage,
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appearing in widely different forms.
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At this point in history, printed art is largely a participatory rather
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than a spectator sport. Its audience is made up primarily of other
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artists. We may not be able to make much money or receive recognition
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or respect from main-stream society, but we are free in a way that no
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artists have ever been free before. We should be more sensitive to the
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advantages of our freedom, not limiting ourselves by a ludicrous sense
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of clique loyalty or fear of authority or anxieties about salability or
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acceptability. _Assembling_ allows us to make more use of our freedom
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than any other magazine now going; let's make the most of it!
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_Assembling 12_ was compiled by Charles Doria, Robin Middleman,
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Jude Schwendenwein,& Leslie Hollis Soga in 1986, and published by
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Addembling Press/P.O. Box 1967/Brooklyn, N.Y. 11202/U.S.A.
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