Material and Visual Poetics. The Italian and Belgian Neo-Avant-Garde Art of Publishing

Concrete and Visual Poetry are two emblematic expressions of the neo-avant-garde in which art and poetry greatly intersect. The essay brings to light this seminal moment in the history of twentieth-century art and literature focusing on the crucial relationships between Italian and Belgian visual poets in the decade 1960-1970. Aimed at reconstructing the importance and the originality of their web of exchanges for the international experiences of poetic concretism and visuality, the essay examines how Italian and Belgian collaborative projects and co-authored artists’ publications experimented with poetry as a visual and transcultural medium.