27 JUNE: A Picture Made of Words and Nothing Else presented by CoVA Grad Academy

The CoVA Graduate Academy convened a rare discussion of Melbourne Visual Poetry from the 1970's with the movements foundational figure π.O.

From the late-1960s, and with gaining momentum in the ‘70s, at a time when objects were disappearing from the gallery, poets began to consider their words as objects and think about the materiality of language. These two trajectories collide in what is today called visual or concrete poetry. There is no one better than π.o. to give an account of the vibrant Melbourne community that gave us artist-poets such as Sweeney Reed, thalia, Jas H. Duke, Alex Selenitsch, Alan Riddell and Ruth Cowen.

π.o. gave a lecture on his work in this field from the 1970s to today, a major contribution too often neglected within a visual arts context, followed by a Q&A.

Convened by Victoria Perin & Brendan Casey


π.o. is a poet, editor, publisher, anarchist and foundational figure in the networks of little magazines that boomedin the 1970's in Melbourne. He has edited FITZROT, the workers poetry magazine 925, and continues to publish Unusual Work through the Collective Effort Press. He is the author of numerous collections, including 24hrs (1996), Big Numbers (2000), and Fitzroy: A Biography (2015). His upcoming publication, a 600+ page work of poetry titled Heide (Giramondo), will be launched later this year. It is an anarchist's revision of the well-known Heide group of artists and their patrons John and Sunday Reed.