Sims Reed Rare Books×

Poemi Fonetici 1949-1975

Rotella, Mimmo

Milan. Plura Records. 1975
Mimmo Rotella's record of phonetic poems.

Limited to 1000 copies, signed and numbered by Rotella on the sleeve. Presentation text by Alfredo Todisco.

Rotella's participation in exhibitions began in 1947 at the Mostra Sindacale di Arti Figurative. He also took part in all the annual exhibitions of the Art Club up until 1951, both in Rome and Turin. As an alternative expressive method 1949 saw him invent phonetic poetry which the artist called 'epistaltic' (a neologism lacking sense): this was a collection of words (also invented ones), whistles, sounds, numbers and onomatopoeic reiterate.
For the period bridging 1951-1952 he obtained a scholarship on the part of the Fullbright Foundation, thanks to which he was able to sojourn in the United States at the University of Kansas City with the appointment as Artist in Residence. Here he created a large mural composition and recorded phonetic poems with the accompaniment of percussion instruments. At Harvard University in Boston he held a performance of phonetic poetry and recorded other pieces for the Library of Congress in Washington.

The album presented here is Rotella's first LP of phonetic poems. In the following year, 1976, he was to take part in the International Recital of Sound Poetry - Poetry Action at the Atelier Annick Le Moine.
[Broken Music, p. 210; Schraenen, Guy. Vinyl. Records and covers by artists, p. 32].
12'' 33rpm record, 50 minutes in duration. Housed in original black folding sleeve, with titles printed in white.
#41357