Asemic: The Art of Writing

by Peter Schwenger

The first critical study of writing without language
In recent years, asemic writing—writing without language—has exploded in popularity, with anthologies, a large-scale art exhibition, and flourishing interest on sites like tumblr, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram. Yet this burgeoning, fascinating field has never received a dedicated critical study. Asemic fills that gap, proposing new ways of rethinking the nature of writing. Pioneered in the work of creators such as Henri Michaux, Roland Barthes, and Cy Twombly, asemic writing consolidated as a movement in the 1990s. Author Peter Schwenger first covers these “asemic ancestors” before moving to current practitioners such as Michael Jacobson, Rosaire Appel, and Christopher Skinner, exploring how asemic writing has evolved and gained importance in the contemporary era. Asemic includes intriguing revelations about the relation of asemic writing to Chinese characters, the possibility of asemic writing in nature, and explanations of how we can read without language. Written in a lively style, this book will engage scholars of contemporary art and literary theory, as well as anyone interested in what writing was and what it is now in the process of becoming.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Writing

192 pages, Paperback

Published December 31, 2019

Reviews

[Margaryta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember being very excited when this book came out and eager to pick it up, but somehow it wasn't quite what I expected. The most "useful" part, for me, was the theorization of asemic writing in chapter 1, which served as a historiography of the genre. The next chapters looked at three historical precursors/founding figures to asemic writing (Henri Michaux, Roland Barthes, Cy Twombly), eco-asemic writing and a broader discussion of what gives meaning to written "marks" like language, and three contemporary creators of asemic writing who produced book-length projects in the genre (Michael Jacobson, Rosaire Appel, Christopher Skinner). The final chapter discusses the idea of reading asemic writing and the correspondence between linguistic form and meaning.

I personally found chapters 1 and 3 (on eco-asemic writing) to be the most exciting and potentially useful as future teaching material because of the way Schwenger probes some of the bigger questions. Chapters 2 and 4 might be more of interest for people looking to get deeper into the subject and who enjoy close analyses of case studies, which I tend to struggle more with unless I deliberately seek said case studies out. Will be keeping this book in mind for the future, I anticipate I will return to it again, hopefully with more time and focus.

[Carolyn Halliday · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a favorite, requested Christmas present. The formalization of asemic art was new to me even though I had been creating it. I loved the information in the book about this genre and related to many many of the philosophies and concepts that the author elucidated. I wasn’t interested so much in the book for art history or theory, but rather for the concepts put forth. Some of the artists were well know to me , and others were new, and I appreciate learning about them within the construct of asemic

Language fascinates me so I also deeply appreciate the authors forays in coding/decoding and the paradox of signifying anything

This book fuels a new path for me to understand and talk about my art. And the artists will continue to give me inspiration.

[Andy Dávila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t find Schwenger’s analysis super helpful, if I’m being honest,

his translations and his selection of quotes will be useful for my research, but I did not get a lot out of his own analysis or his commentary

a good starting point for anyone interested in knowing which artists are relevant to this semi-niche art form

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ah, the beautiful life of rich White males who are doing nonsense art, compared with the brown people who are just lazy.