THEO VAN DOESBURG
(1883-1931)

a.ka. I. K. Bonset

Founder of Netherlands Dada.
Manifestoes and typographical experiments
Magazines 'Art Concret' and 'Mecano'
In 1917 founding of the magazine 'De Stijl' with Piet Mondrian
'De Stijl' served as a forum for writings and poems of artists such as Kurt Schwitters and Hans Arp.

His manifesto announced:
"A search for a universal formal language which has no relation to nature , emotional life or sensory data, and the pursuit of works which are completely devoid of lyrical symbolism or dramatic''

(Powell, Neil. Concrete Poetry and Conceptual Art: A Spectre at the Feast? Ubuweb.com)

Art and Language

KURT SCHWITTERS
(1887-1948)

Master of making collages
The Merz picture
Subtle color and precarious balance
Hans Arp
The Style and Bauhaus

(Freundel, Gwendolen. Kurt Schwitters.
http://www.ubu.com/historical/schwitters/index.html)

For thirteen years (1923-36) he also worked on an extraordinary construction that came to be known as the Merzbau; it was what we would now call an Environment and eventually spread to eight rooms of his house in Hannover. Its original name was the 'Cathedral of Erotic Misery' and its contents were as shocking as anything produced by radical young artists today.

''The picture is a self-sufficient work of art. It is not connected to anything outside''

BRUCE NAUMAN

Video and audio art
Neon, photography, installation and performance
Deconstructing language and spotting with it, exposing its ambiguities and blurring the boundaries between sound and language.

No no no no -Walter:

The way Nauman pronounces and repeats the word 'No', makes the text loses its context. It will make you wonder about the exact meaning of the word and how to deal with it. He also uses this trick in his neon art works.

(Nauman, Bruce. http://www.ubu.com/sound/nauman.html

'Music plays a role in a lot of my work. Even when there is no music'

JENNY HOLZER

Uses text exclusively as a means of visual and conceptual expression.
(McElroy, Gil. GROUND STATES: THE VISUAL CONTEXTS OF BPNICHOL. 2000)

Her medium is language, she uses truisms.

'I began to see that the short texts I was writing were poster material'

GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE
(1880-1918)

Visual poems about the war in which he was participating, called 'calligrammes.'
Critical poetry (critic on WOI)
Also short story writer, art critic and playwright

(Bohn, Willard. Apollinaire, Visual poetry, and art criticism. London. Associated University Presses, 1993. Book)

''A structure becomes architectural, and not sculptural, when its elements no longer have their justification in nature.''

JOHN BALDESSARI

Text paintings
Appropriation art
Also printmaking, video, audio, installation, sculpture and photography
Joined the 'Documenta', the most important exhibition of contemporary visual art in the world
Shows in his artworks the (narrative) power of language

(Bruggen, Coosje. John Baldessari. New York: Rizzoli, 1990. Book.)

HENDRIK NICOLAAS WERKMAN
(1882-1945)

Expressionist
Member of art society 'De Ploeg'
Art of printing
Paintings and graphics

(Dooijes, Dick. Hendrik Werkman. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1970. Book.)