Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Micah Lexier and Christian Bök | Two Equal Texts




Micah Lexier and Christian Bök
Two Equal Texts
Vancouver, Canada: Fillip, 2008
Foil-stamped, double-sided book bound in Arrestox Blue Twine bookbinding cloth
Edition of 15 signed and numbered copies

THIS TEXT AND THE ONE
BESIDE IT ARE EQUAL.
I WROTE THIS ONE FIRST,
AND THEN I GAVE IT TO MY
FRIEND CHRISTIAN BOK
AND ASKED HIM TO
GENERATE A NEW TEXT
USING EVERY LETTER AND
EVERY PUNCTUATION
MARK THAT I USED IN MINE.
THE OTHER TEXT IS HIS.

MICAH LEXIER REQUESTED
IN ADVANCE THAT I
REINVENT HIS TEXT. SO
I UNKNOTTED IT AND
REKNITTED INTO THIS 
VERY FORM, BUT THEN I 
BEGAN TO THINK THAT HIS 
MESSAGE HAD ALREADY 
RESEWN A TOUTED ART 
OF GENUINE POETRY. HIS
EERIE TEXT WAS MINE.


The above texts were originally shown in the windows of Printed Matter, NYC, in February 2007, then a few months later at MKG127's first location in Toronto, and the following January as part of the ARTery exhibition at the Prairie Art Gallery, Grande Prairie, Alberta. 

They were slightly reworked later that year for the above edition, published as a fundraiser for Fillip Magazine. It's available from the publisher for $750, here

The anagram is also one of three works in one of three sections of Lexier's current retrospective at the Power Plant (see review in the Globe and Mail, here, and in the Toronto Star, here and here). The exhibition is divided into the three sections of the title: One, and Two, and More Than Two. "And Two" features works Lexier made in collaboration with writers, including Bök,  Derek McCormack and Colm Tóibín. The Tóibín is a take-away work (more on that in a future post). 









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