
Henri Chopin (1922-2008) was one of the most significant and influential
avant-garde, sound and -concrete poets of the second half of the 20th
century.
In his work as a sound poet, he was an early practitioner of a complex
vocal art which he described and defined as poésie sonore , in which he
used his voice, a microphone, and elementary "home" recording
technologies to manipulate a vast tapestry of sounds with his
compositions.
As poet, painter, graphic artist and designer, typographer, independent
publisher, film-maker, broadcaster and arts promoter, Chopin's work was a
barometer of the shifts in European media between the 1950’s and the
1970’s.
His publication and design of the iconic audio-visual journals Cinquième
Saison and Revue OU between 1958 and 1974 contained vinyl-recordings as
well as texts, images, screen-prints, and multiples. It brought
together contemporary international writers including such artists as
members of Lettrisme and Fluxus groups, Jiri Kolar, Ian Hamilton Finlay,
Tom Phillips, Brion Gysin, William S. Burroughs and many others. He
also brought back the work of survivors from earlier generations of
experimental poets such as Raoul Hausmann and Marcel Janco to present
their work to a fresh audience.
There is no doubt that he is a leading protagonist, accelerator, and
incubator for the second half of the 20th Century avant-garde and
experimental audio art.
VOD is exceptionally proud to present two box-sets of Henri Chopin’s
work spanning from 1955 to 1991: with Box 1 (VOD1.1-1.7) covering his
official stand-alone releases and with Box 2 (VOD1.8-13) covering all
his other contributions to vinyl and tape productions as well as
unreleased recordings.