I am a believer there is more in common with art and sport than what divides them
This was an argument I wrote earlier on here, which is becoming a theme as a share this article that a friend recently posted online.
This is a summary of the presentation that I gave for the Haiku Down Under event last weekend
My aim was to outline various creative strategies for using haiku as ekphrastic, either in responding to other media or being an inspiration for new material.
The presentation outlined opportunities to incorporate poetry into exhibitions, collaborations, music and other approaches to art.
I introduced the work of Garlo Jo and Marco Sebastiano Alessi with discussion of an interview with the former and was joined by the latter for the second half of the presentation.
One benefit of exploring activities like those I promoted is to raise the profile of poetry and help a wider audience gain those benefits familiar to each of us as writers of short reflective works.
When the going gets weird, the weird turn prose!
The title from my session came via self-described “gonzo journalist” Hunter S. Thompson, and it’s an energy which reflects my gonzo approach to haiku: “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”
It led me to give a quick word about definitions, particularly my looseness with them, as I am kinda brash and move fast, so some ideas and definitions tend to get broken along the way — which is a character you’ll see that I’ve embraced in my practices.
I work quickly and don't get too caught up with following rules.
However, early on in the discussion I saw a message from Amelia Fielden in Zoom's chat that kinda derailed me, as she commented that I shouldn't pluralise haiku as haikus because that wasn't how the Japanese would do it.
"Please stop saying haikuS. The word haiku is both singular and plural and does not take S at the end (for plural)"I explained my approach is probably American and reflected on Kerouac's statement:
“The American Haiku is not exactly the Japanese Haiku. The Japanese Haiku is strictly disciplined to seventeen syllables but since the language structure is different I don’t think American Haikus should worry about syllables because American speech is something again."
Not sure if it helps, but my parents were both born in North America so maybe that's part of my heritage.
Introducing Garlo Jo from Bourdeaux
I met Garlo more than a decade ago when he contacted me on Facebook and asked me to contribute to his Vent de Guitares project.
If you own a guitar, it’s a technique that worth trying — use an open tuning and allow the wind to vibrate the strings. It’s a generative approach to music.
Garlo was invited to develop a project in Japan during the mid-90s using this approach and it was there he became interested in haiku.
“In Japan I understood the importance of haikus. A Kyushu newspaper had a haiku each week-end and before the concerts we organised a haiku contest. Maybe haikus is a way to feel nature, even in a big city like Fukuoka, you can listen to the wind by means of bamboo, flags and furins… and haikus.”A haiku competition was developed to complement his musical project and I think that's one good strategy to incorporate poetry into other events.
Garlo followed the project in Japan with the development of his CD 99 Haiku.
“On the CD, each haiku is related to the haiku before by its evocation or by the music. You can listen to my progression or make your own progression.”
This is a good generative idea, a kind of choose-your-own-arrangement. It’s something I want to highlight here as a theme.
“I focused on French and Japanese. I think that the ideal way of listening to this CD is to have one and only one haiku each day for 99 days. A radio station in Kyushu broadcasted the CD that way. It has 99 haikus because 99 tracks is the limit for CDs."
Introducing Crossing Streams
Next I discussed my first experience using haiku in an exhibition for Crossing Streams, which was a collaboration with Marco and the Naviar Records community.
Local writers were invited to contribute to the three-week event in Narrandera during October 2017 and contributors ranged from age eight to eighty-something.
I ran workshops to help develop this material and then illustrated the submissions with my photography.
Working with Marco we selected five poems to be shared with the Naviar Records community and the result was over five hours of original music that was played in the exhibition.
One of these was my first recording using Garlo’s vent de guitar technique in response to a haiku by Peita Vincent.
Also exhibiting was a project developed by Dr Greg Pritchard, who shared his collaboration with weaver Kelly Leonard and also ran a workshop as part of the program of events.
Poetry as a micro-journal
My interest in writing haiku began in 2001 after I moved to Wagga Wagga and got my first mobile phone.
The Short Messaging Service (SMS) function led me to start broadcasting short poems to friends as a way of sharing my observations about living in a new city.
This foundation was based on the seventeen-syllable approach suiting the 140 character limit of SMS.
The microjournal approach developed further in 2016 when I made a new year's resolution to write one each week, then increased from 2017 when I began writing one each day.
These were published on a blog.
It was a creative practice that became useful for generating content.
A body of content provides material you can utilise in a variety of ways, and I’ll outline some ideas that I’ve used.
One idea is rensaku, which I believe is the term for a sequence of haiku.
This was the approach used in my poem River Of Time that was published in the Poetry for the Planet anthology.
These kinds of sequences are also interesting to capture the mood of a year, which I’ve done a couple of times by selecting examples from my microjournal and stringing them together.
Another approach was using haiku with photographs as part of an exhibition at Griffith Regional Art Gallery in 2019, which I also published as the book Earthwords.
The book that developed from an idea that was irresistible to me, incorporating the Cut-up Technique to invite the reader to cut the pages to generate new poetry, either through deliberate selection or random collisions of phrases.
As a writer I liked the way that sometimes so much can be achieved just by swapping the last and first lines.
For more about cut-ups and their history.
Introducing Bassling
Bassling is my musical pseudonym and haiku have played a role.
The cut-up idea was one I used for a performance at a book launch, which I also recorded for the Naviar Records prompt that week.
One more approach to using haiku is the lyrics for Ghostly Melody.
Haiku can require editing to sit into music as lyrics, but can offer great raw material to work into a song.
In conclusion
Haiku and other forms of poetry offer benefits in terms of being a reflective writing practice and it's worth raising the profile of these activities to engage an audience.
There are strategies for stimulating writing, such as adding haiku competitions to other events.
The material produced through writing haiku can lead to a variety of outcomes, whether exhibited or edited into other formats.
My examples included stringing haikus together to make rensaku-style pieces, as well as using the Cut-up Technique to create new material from existing phrases or as a performance.
I have also used haiku as raw material to become song lyrics.
Dancing was part of my studies as a primary school student
It was incredibly unpopular as it involved old-fashioned folk dances and hand-holding while moving around a circle.
Unlike how learning music at school led me to avoid taking any lessons for all of my life (yet I now have over a dozen solo albums), I did seek out breakdancing lessons at the local YMCA and learned routines.
However, it’s a different experience for my kids and it’s unlike my upbringing because I never saw my parents dance together.
In comparison my family engaged in dance battles in the kitchen some nights.
So it was obvious to me how social dancing took a massive leap with the popularity of the game Fortnight.
Griffith Pioneer Park Museum will be seen as never seen before at a night-time event on Saturday 7 September
The line-up will include Griffith’s Bernard Gray and Andrew Keith, whose live-coding skills have been a feature of events in Banna Laneway and the local Art Gallery.
Dr Greg Pritchard will be returning to town and he is arguably one of the earliest proponents of projection art in Griffith, when he exhibited his skills while working as the inaugural Regional Arts Development Officer for Western Riverina Arts.
Joining them will be a full class of emerging talent gaining experience under Scott Baker’s tutelage as part of the Bioluminescence Project that has been touring NSW this year.
“It’s also wonderful to add new colours to the landmark location of Pioneer Park Museum.”
Mr Richardson has been active in the Riverina, from adding a projection event to the first Leeton Art Deco Festival in 2011 through to coordinating the InFrequency tour that played events in Yanco and Tanja with many of the same artists involved in workshops and performances.
“I helped establish Red Earth Ecology as an artist-run not-for-profit to develop opportunities in the region,” said Jason Richardson.
The Night At The Museum event will be Jason’s final activity at Griffith Pioneer Park Museum as he leaves the role of curator.
“It’s wonderful to bring colour to this exceptional community-based organisation and I hope everyone will join us in seeing the Museum in a new light,” said Mr Richardson.
“You can bring a torch to add your own light and it will assist families with exploring the event.”
Entry to the event from 7-9pm on Saturday 7 September is by gold coin donation and attendees are required to wear suitable footwear to navigate unsealed pathways at night
Snacks, refreshments and soup will be available for purchase.
Night At The Museum is supported by Griffith Pioneer Park Museum, Red Earth Ecology, Western Riverina Arts and Create NSW through funding from the NSW Government.
One of my favourite moments in Star Wars, a film which admittedly has many moments, is when Obi-Wan Kenobi instructs Luke "your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them"
Humans have at least five senses but sight dominates our lives.
It's been a frustration for me as an interdisciplinary artist that Australian galleries focus mostly on visual media.
It's also been an interest for me as a way to explore opportunities, such as soundtracks for exhibitions or blindfolded tours.
So I'm interested to see that pommel horse champ Stephen Nedoroscik takes off his glasses when he performs. “It’s all about feeling the equipment. I don’t even really see when I’m doing my gymnastics. It’s all in the hands — I can feel everything.”
This also relates to my earlier observation about the shared aspects of art and sport, particularly how they're united in culture.
Many athletes talk about not-thinking when they’re at play.
“I have to focus on not thinking,” says gymnast Simone Biles.
“If you think about a trick, sometimes it makes it harder,” says skateboarder Minna Stess. “When I’m skating, the best thing is to not think at all.”
It reminds me when I'm at a life-drawing class, as soon as I start to think too much about the picture as it takes shape, it will begin to fall apart.
Likewise, I get into the flow state of creativity by being in the present and not worrying about the result.
Seeing is believing, says an adage that's clearly out of date with our world of digital manipulation.
I think seeing is easy to rationalise and also to assure agreement with those sharing a view.
However, I am a believer that appealing to other senses can be more persuasive.
My partner, for example, gets amazing results from smelling good and her exhibitions have included tactile exhibits that defy sight by asking people to put their hands into prepared boxes.
And my sister's cooking is another remarkable skill, which has led me to incorporate cooking into my gallery events through my love of sharing new toasted sandwich recipes.
Sport, like art, are components of our shared culture and I want to encourage everyone to explore their senses.
