Virtual Typography

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From visual poetry to modern typography: 1.6 Concrete poetry
1.5 Bauhaus and De Stijl

Concrete poetry


Selected works – Eugen Gomringer
Gomringer is a key fi gure in German concrete poetry. He was
born in Bolivia in 1925 and studied economics and art history
before he began to work at the University for Arts and Design
in Ulm, Germany, in 1957. Gomringer founded his own press
in 1960 to publish visual and concrete poetry. But whilst
promoting the work of others, Gomringer also produced
a signifi cant body of poetic work himself. His approach to
concrete poetry is very methodical: small modifi cations in
the wording or in the arrangement of letters lead to puzzling
results. It is easy to make sense of the words but diffi cult to
determine their correct order. In 1976, Gomringer became
Professor for Theory of Aesthetics at the Düsseldorf Arts
Academy. This was followed by his appointment as Honorary
Professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Zwickau,
and in 2000 he established the Institute for Constructive Art
and Concrete Poetry in Rihau together with his wife,
Dr Nortrud Gomringer, and son, Stefan Gomringer.

Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)
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