mumbling… sputtering… Dial-A-Poem

I recently took in a small exhibit about a 1964 collaboration between the writer James Baldwin and photographer Richard Avedon called Nothing Personal: A Collaboration in Black and White. "Nothing Personal" is a book published in 1964 featuring Avedon's graphic black and white photography paired with Baldwin's biting insights on America, race, and justice. It was a wonderfully right-sized exhibit with a wall dedicated to ephemera from the 1960s. One of the items was about Dial-A-Poem begun in 1968 by artist and activist John Giorno. It reminded me of an Art School Masters assignment where Stuart Semple had us explore words as a jumping-off point for art making. You can still dial the number and hear a poem. I just listened to Vito Acconci rambling on about mumbling and sputtering and stuff. If you're in the mood for a little word play Dial-A-Poem can be called at +1 917-994-8949.

Nothing Personal (1964), a collaborative artwork in book form by two legendary American artists, James Baldwin, the African American writer, public intellectual, and civil rights activist, and Richard Avedon, the Jewish-American fashion and portrait photographer.

You can learn more about the exhibit here: https://www.masonexhibitions.org/exhibitions/nothing-personal-mea