Typewriting on rice paper. “Dactylopoème” is a term that the artist first coined during the 1960s to refer to a new genre of poetry produced through the meticulous layering of letters, numbers, and signs onto a sheet of paper. Oftentimes the result is visually dense textures created with a typewriter, compacted into geometric forms. Chopin’s visual poems are symphonies of freedom that show an unwavering commitment to liberation in a post-war Europe. [...] Having escaped from a labour camp during the Second World War, Chopin spent time with the advancing Red Army before he was recaptured by the Germans and sent West on a “death march”. These extraordinary early experiences shaped the artist’s anarchic vision of reality and precipitated his deep aversion to any system of dictatorial power.Chopin’s project as an artist, informed by his encounters with the Lettrist movement during the 1950s, centres on the deconstruction of language, which he perceived to be a repressive and despotic entity. In his 1967 manifesto titled Why I am the author of sound poetry and free poetry, Chopin writes: “It is impossible, one cannot continue with the all-powerful Word, the Word that reigns over all. One cannot continue to admit it to every house, and listen to it everywhere describe us and describe events, tell us how to vote, and whom we should obey.” - Artvisor, "Henri Chopin. Dactylopoèmes"

Sitography: ARTVISOR, "Henri Chopin. Dactylopoèmes", www.artvisor.com, 11/10/2021
www.artvisor.com/henri-chopin-dactylopoemes/