A Short History of Breath



The graphics from the above video were adapted from my chapbook LUNGUAGE: a short history of breath published about 20 years ago by my serif of nottingham editions. bpNichol was going to publish the book through his grOnk press, but unfortunately he died tragically. I have always considered the piece to be a tribute to bp, and an in memoriam.

Likewise, the spoken text. The text appeared in Jennifer Lovegrove's Dig magazine and was reprinted in Holy Beep! a chapbook edited by Natalie Zina Walschots to assist with and celebrate jwcurry's monumental Encylopedia Beepliographic or Beepliography.

This work will catalogue every known appearance of a bpNichol work, on this planet anyway. I don't know if jwcurry has got access to the Cloudtown Library and Starchives yet.

The video above is dedicated to bp who was an inspiring mentor, model, and teacher for me as well as for many.
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Comments

M.D. Dunn said…
This is beautiful, Gary. May I show it in class this fall during our "breath" component?
5:46 PM
gary barwin said…
Thanks, Mark. Of course you can show it! (BTW, I really like how you've organized your class -- the 'breath' component is breathtaking in its conception...but I really like how you've focussed on basics -- something very avant grade but also very fundamental and traditional.
5:52 PM
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