The Department of Micro-Poetics
Curated by David Berridge & VerySmallKitchen

The Department of Micro-Poetics will be in long-distance residence at AC Institute as part of the Exchange Value exhibition. Coordinated from London by VerySmallKitchen, the Department offers ongoing research into the histories and contemporary manifestations of micro-poetic practices, conceived of both as a form of writing and a quality and practice of invitation, economy and relation. The project participates in the possibilities and crisis of poetries non-monetary economy of gift exchange.

For Exchange Value, the Department compiled an exhibition in the form of a box of ideas, scores, drawings, maps, lists, books and wall texts, sent from London to be installed at AC Institute.

The Department currently includes projects by Rachel Lois Clapham, Emma Cocker, Matt Dalby, James Davies/ If P Then Q, The Festival of Nearly Invisible Publishing, Marianne Holm Hansen, Márton Koppány, Marit Muenzberg/ LemonMelon, Tamarin Norwood, Mary Paterson, Seekers of Lice and Mary Yacoob.  The Department is a working space and new works and texts will be added throughout the month, along with updates on the Department’s research.

The Department has also extended an invitation to New York based poets, editors, and artists to consider how they might make use of the Department as a work, exhibition and/or performance space. Residents are invited to make some physical intervention in the space for gallery visitors, and to have a correspondence (in any form) with the Department in London. New York Artists in residence include Jill Magi and Kai Fierle-Heidrick.

Throughout the exhibition, The Bulletin of the Department of Micro-Poetics will be published in London, emailed to AC Institute and distributed throughout the space. Copies of the template are available online and in the space for visitors to contribute their own issues of the bulletin, exploring an open model of publication and research, as well as how diverse forms of exchange and distribution can be represented in the gallery space.

About the Artists

Based in London, VerySmallKitchen explores connections of writing, poetics, and art practice through a range of exhibitions, performances, conversations, and publications. Projects include Writing/Exhibition/Publication – a month long residency at the The Pigeon Wing in London (Sep 3 – Oct 3, 2010); The Festival of Nearly Invisible Publishing (co-organised with LemonMelon, ongoing) and Assembling for The Reading Room, Berlin.

verysmallkitchen.com

Image courtesy the artists.