View source for Asemic writing

{{short description|Wordless open semantic form of writing}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
[[File:Asemic3.jpg|right|thumb|Asemic writing from Marco Giovenale]]
'''Asemic writing''' is a wordless open [[Semantics|semantic]] form of [[writing]].<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://postasemicpress.blogspot.com/2017/04/works-interviews-by-michael-jacobson-is.html|author=Michael Jacobson|title=Works & Interviews|website=Post-Asemic Press|date=7 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asemic.net/|title=Tim Gaze|website=Asemic Magazine}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/asemic|author=Peter Schwenger|title=Asemic: The Art of Writing|website=University of Minnesota Press}}</ref> The word ''asemic'' {{IPAc-en|ei|'|s|i:|m|I|k}} means "having no specific semantic content", or "without the smallest unit of meaning".<ref>From [[Greek language|Greek]]: asemos (ἄσημος) = without sign, unmarked, obscure, or ignoble.</ref> With the non-specificity of asemic writing there comes a vacuum of meaning, which is left for the reader to fill in and interpret. All of this is similar to the way one would deduce meaning from an [[abstract art|abstract work of art]]. Where asemic writing distinguishes itself among traditions of abstract art is in the asemic author's use of gestural constraint, and the retention of physical characteristics of writing such as lines and symbols. Asemic writing is a hybrid art form that fuses [[Writing|text]] and [[image]] into a unity, and then sets it free to arbitrary subjective interpretations. It may be compared to [[free writing]] or writing for its own sake, instead of writing to produce verbal context. The open nature of asemic works allows for meaning to occur across [[linguistic]] understanding; an asemic text may be "read" in a similar fashion regardless of the reader's natural language.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://scriptjr.nl/issues/1.1/satu-kaikkonen-1-1.php|work=SCRIPTjr.nl|title=Satu Kaikkonen interview}}</ref> Multiple meanings for the same [[symbol]]ism are another possibility for an asemic work, that is, asemic writing can be polysemantic or have [[zero]] meaning, [[infinity|infinite]] meanings, or its meaning can evolve over time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://samplekanon.com/?p=1946/|title=Samplekannon interview with Michael Jacobson|work=Samplekannon|date=18 January 2013}}</ref> Asemic works leave for the reader to decide how to translate and [[Exploration|explore]] an asemic text; in this sense, the reader becomes co-creator of the asemic work.

In 1997, [[Visual poetry|visual poets]] Tim Gaze<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.litromagazine.com/interviews/without-words-an-interview-with-tim-gaze/|title=Tim Gaze: Writer & Poet|website=Litro|date=4 January 2009}}</ref> and Jim Leftwich first applied the word ''asemic'' to name their quasi-calligraphic writing gestures.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://galatearesurrects2018.blogspot.com/2018/02/featured-essay-by-jim-leftwich.html|title=The Nearness Of Asemic Writing by Jim Leftwich|website=Galatea Resurrects|date=8 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.samwoolfe.com/2023/01/interview-tim-gaze-asemic-writing.html?fbclid=IwAR1ezpZzktfKrQLL5RYAaFQXZYdinCxxmwkukwbj5UJ05e1r5N9Y-oxTTI4|title=An Interview With Tim Gaze|website=Sam Woolfe|date=9 January 2023}}</ref> They then began to distribute them to poetry magazines both online and in print. The authors explored sub-verbal and sub-letteral forms of writing, and textual [[asemia]] as a creative option and as an intentional practice. Since the late 1990s, asemic writing has blossomed into a worldwide literary/[[art movement]]. It has especially grown in the early part of the 21st century, though there is an acknowledgement of a long and complex history, which precedes the activities of the current asemic movement, especially with regards to abstract calligraphy, wordless writing, and verbal writing damaged beyond the point of legibility. Jim Leftwich has recently stated that an asemic condition of an asemic work is an impossible goal, and that it is not possible to create an art/literary work entirely without meaning. He has begun to use the term "pansemic" too.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://slowforward.wordpress.com/2016/03/13/jim-leftwich-asemic-writing-definitions-and-contexts-1998-2016/|title=Jim Leftwich: "asemic writing definitions and contexts, 1998–2016"|website=Slowforward|date=13 March 2016}}</ref> He also explained (in 2020): "The term 'pansemia' didn't replace the term 'asemia' in my thinking (nor did 'pansemic' replace 'asemic'); it merely assisted me in expanding my understanding of the theory and practice of asemic writing".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://asemicfront2.blogspot.com/2020/06/jim-leftwich-responds-to-new-pansemic.html/|title=Jim Leftwich responds to New pansemic vispo (June 10, 2020)|website=asemicfront2|date=14 June 2020}}</ref> Others such as author [[Travis Jeppesen]] have found the term ''asemic'' to be problematic because "it seems to infer writing with no meaning."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sleek-mag.com/2016/12/02/hans-ulrich-obrist-zhang-jeppesen-miralda/|title=Hans Ulrich Obrist in Conversation About Inventing New Languages|website=Sleek Magazine}}</ref>

==Styles==

Asemic writing exists in many different forms. It is often created with a pen or brush, but can range from being hand drawn in the sand with a stick and documented by photography,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/life/arts-and-entertainment/2018-04-03-cape-town-artist-andrew-van-der-merwe-carves-out-beach-calligraphy-niche/|title=Cape Town artist Andrew van der Merwe carves out beach calligraphy niche|work=BusinessDay|author=Thelma Mort}}</ref> or to works on canvas, paper, computer images, and animations. The key to asemic writing is that even though it is traditionally "unreadable" it still maintains a strong attractive appeal to the reader's eye. Various asemic writing includes [[pictograms]], or [[ideograms]] the meanings of which are sometimes suggested by their shapes, though it may also flow as an [[abstract expressionist]] scribble which resembles writing but avoids words. Asemic writing, at times, exists as a conception or shadow of conventional writing practices. Reflecting writing, but not completely existing as a traditional writing system, asemic writing seeks to make the reader hover in a state between reading and looking.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehandstand.org/archive//january2006/articles/nonismacemicart.htm|author=Jaime Morrison|title=Nonism: Asemic Art|website=The Handstand}}</ref> Asemic writing has no verbal sense, though it may have clear textual sense.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=http://dbqp.blogspot.com/2005/11/varieties-of-visual-poetry.html|title=Varieties of Visual Poetry|work=dbqp|author=Geof Huth}}</ref> Through its formatting and structure, asemic writing may suggest a type of document and, thereby, suggest a meaning. The form of art is still writing, often [[calligraphic]] in form, and either depends on a reader's sense and knowledge of writing systems for it to make sense,<ref name="auto1"/> or can be understood through aesthetic intuition.<ref name="auto"/> True asemic writing occurs when the creator of the asemic piece cannot read their own asemic writing. Relative asemic writing is a natural writing system that can be read by some people but not by everyone (e.g. [[ciphers]], [[wildstyle]], etc.). Most asemic writing lies between these two extremes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fullofcrow.com/prate/2009/08/michael-jacobson/|title=PRATE, Michael Jacobson interview|publisher=Fullofcrow.com|website=Full of Crow|date=6 August 2009}}</ref> Influences on asemic writing are illegible, [[Constructed language|invented]], or primal [[manuscript|script]]s ([[cave painting]]s, [[doodle]]s, children's drawings, etc.). But instead of being thought of as mimicry of preliterate expression, asemic writing may be considered to be a global [[Postliterate society|postliterate]] style of writing that uses all forms of creativity for inspiration. Other influences on asemic writing are [[alien language in science fiction|alien languages in science fiction]], [[artistic languages]], [[sigil (magic)|sigils]], [[undeciphered scripts]], and [[graffiti]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://scriptjr.nl/special-sections/cryptotexts/michael-jacobson-interview|work=SCRIPTjr.nl|title=Michael Jacobson interview|author=Quimby Melton}}</ref> Uses for asemic writing include mental and [[Creativity|creative]] [[idea]] stimulation, [[non-verbal communication]], [[meditation]], [[hoaxes]], curing [[writer's block]], [[privacy]], and general authorial self-expression.

==History==

[[File:MirthaDermisacheNewsletter.jpg|thumb|left | Newsletter from [[Mirtha Dermisache]]<ref>dermisache-9 Newsletters & 1 Reportaje 2000: Newsletter, 2000 from Mirtha Dermisache, Nueve Newsletters & Un Reportaje, Buenos Aires : El borde, Marseille : Mobil-Home, Montpellier : Manglar, 2004. Offset printing, 440 copies.</ref>]]
Asemic writing occurs in [[avant-garde]] literature and art with strong roots in the [[Proto-writing|earliest forms of writing]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://punctumbooks.com/titles/an-anthology-of-asemic-handwriting/|title=An Anthology of Asemic Handwriting|publisher=Punctum Books}}</ref> The history of today's asemic movement stems from two Chinese calligraphers: "crazy" [[Zhang Xu]], a [[Tang dynasty]] ({{circa|800 CE}}) calligrapher who was famous for creating wild illegible calligraphy, and the younger "drunk" monk [[Huaisu]] who also excelled at illegible [[Cursive script (East Asia)|cursive]] calligraphy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://centerforbookarts.blogspot.com/2014/07/making-sense-of-asemic-writing.html|title=Center for Book Arts: Making Sense of Asemic Writing|first=Sarah|last=Nicholls|website=Centerforbookarts.blogspot.com}}</ref> Japanese calligraphers subsequently expanded upon Chinese abstract calligraphic expression by [[Hitsuzendō]] (the way of [[Zen]] through brush), allowing their works to move past formal presentation and "breathe with the vitality of eternal experience".

In 1859, Emily Dickinson was experimenting with asemic writing.<ref name="bj-asemic">{{cite web|url=https://jenner-benjamin.tumblr.com/post/188724565549/asemic-writing|author=Ben Jenner|access-date=18 May 2023|title=Asemic Writing}}</ref> In the 1920s, [[Man Ray]], who was influenced by [[Dada]], created an early work of wordless writing with his poem ''Paris, {{notatypo|Mai}} 1924''.<ref name="bj-asemic"/> Later in the 1920s, [[Henri Michaux]], who was influenced by Asian calligraphy, [[Surrealism]], and [[Automatic writing]], began to create wordless works such as ''Alphabet'' (1925) and ''Narration'' (1927).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://natalieferrisdotcom.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/leaking-the-squalls-the-art-and-letters-of-henri-michaux/|title='Leaking the Squalls': The Art and Letters of Henri Michaux|work=natalie ferris|date=26 January 2014|access-date=10 November 2014}}</ref> Michaux referred to his calligraphic works as "interior Gestures". The writer and artist [[Wassily Kandinsky]] was an early precursor to asemic writing, with his linear piece ''Indian Story'' (1931) exemplifying complete textual abstraction.

In the 1950s, there is [[Brion Gysin]] (whose calligraphy was influenced by Japanese and [[Arabic calligraphy]]), [[Isidore Isou]] (who founded [[Letterism|Lettrisme/Letterism]]), [[Cy Twombly]] (a former US Army [[Cryptologist]]), and [[Morita Shiryū]]/[[Bokujin-kai]] Group (Ink Human Society)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vermillionmedia.blogspot.com/2013/08/calligraphy-bokujin-kai-group-and.html|title= Calligraphy The Bokujin-Kai Group and Shiryu Morita|author=Kathryn Simon phd|website=Vermillionmedia.blogspot.com}}</ref> all of whom expanded writing into illegible, abstract, and wordless visual mark-making; they would help lay the foundation for asemic writers of the future. [[Mira Schendel]] was an artist from Brazil who created many illegible works over the course of her life, for example her piece ''Archaic Writing'' (1964). [[Mirtha Dermisache]] is another writer who had created asemic writing since the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jacket2.org/commentary/witness-mirtha-dermisache|author=Patrick Durgin|title=Witness Mirtha Dermisache|website=Jacket2.org}}</ref> Dermisache actively said that even though her graphisms have no meaning, they still retained the full rights of an autonomous work. 1971 was the year when [[:fr:Alain Satié|Alain Satié]] released his work {{lang|fr|Écrit en prose ou L'Œuvre hypergraphique}} which contains asemic writing throughout the entire graphic novel.<ref>Alain Satie, Écrit en Prose, Éditions PSI, 1971.</ref> [[León Ferrari]] was another artist/poet who created many asemic works in the 1960s and 1970s, such as ''Escritura'' (1976).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.printmag.com/illustration/the-writing-of-art-the-art-of-writing/|author=Buzz Poole|title=The Writing of Art, The Art of Writing|website=Printmag.com|date=16 July 2010}}</ref> 1974 saw the release of [[Max Ernst]]'s work ''Maximiliana: The Illegal Practice Of Astronomy: hommage à Dorothea Tanning''; this book is a major influence on asemic writers such as Tim Gaze, Michael Jacobson,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://medium.com/@volodymyrbilyk/volodymyr-bilyk-in-conversation-with-michael-jacobson-a12b47dc27ef|title=Volodymyr Bilyk in conversation with Michael Jacobson|website=Medium.com|date=31 August 2019}}</ref> and [[Derek Beaulieu]].<ref>Kenneth Goldsmith, Uncreative Writing, Columbia University Press, 20 September 2011</ref> [[Roland Barthes]] was also involved with asemic writing; he titled his asemic works Contre-écritures.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/12/05/vispo/|title=Vispo|author=Nicole Rudick|publisher=The Paris Review|website=Theparisreview.org|date=5 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.drawingsonwriting.org/page25.htm|title=Drawings on Writing|website=Drawingsonwriting.org}}</ref> [[Irma Blank]] was another important contributor to asemic writing.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.artforum.com/news/irma-blank-1934-2023-90403|title=IRMA BLANK (1934–2023)|publisher=Artforum}}</ref>

A modern example of asemic writing is [[Luigi Serafini (artist)|Luigi Serafini]]'s ''[[Codex Seraphinianus]]'' (1981). Serafini described the script of the ''Codex'' as asemic in a talk at the [[Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles]] held on 8 May 2009.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Jeff Stanley|date=2010|title=To Read Images Not Words: Computer-Aided Analysis of the Handwriting in the Codex Seraphinianus (MSc dissertation)|publisher=North Carolina State University at Raleigh|pages=8–9|website=NC State University Libraries|url=http://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/ir/bitstream/1840.16/6460/1/etd.pdf}}</ref>  In the 1980s, Chinese artist [[Xu Bing]] created ''Tiānshū'', or ''[[A Book from the Sky]]'' which is a work of books and hanging scrolls on which were printed 4000 hand carved meaningless characters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://crab.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/free-writing/|title=Free writing|work=stalker|date=2 July 2008|access-date=10 November 2014}}</ref> The 1980s also saw artist [[Gu Wenda]] begin the first of a series of projects centered on the invention of meaningless, false Chinese ideograms, depicted as if they were truly old and traditional. One exhibition of this type was held in [[Xi'an]] in 1986, featuring paintings of fake ideograms on a massive scale.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lacon4.wordpress.com/tag/asemic-writing-2/|title=Asemic Writing|author=Donna Tull|website=Lacon4.wordpress.com}}</ref> Also in China, during the 1990s, an abstract calligraphy movement known as "Calligraphy-ism" came into existence, a leading proponent of this movement being Luo Qi. Calligraphy-ism is an aesthetic movement that aims to develop calligraphy into an abstract art. The characters do not need to retain their traditional forms or be legible as words. In Vietnam during the 2000s, a calligraphy group called the Zenei Gang of Five appeared. To this group of young artists, "Wordless" means that which cannot be said, that which is both before and beyond the specificity of naming. To be without words is saying nothing and saying everything.

Satu Kaikkonen, a contemporary asemic artist/writer from [[Finland]], had this to say about asemic writing:

{{Quotation|As a creator of asemics, I consider myself an explorer and a global storyteller. Asemic art, after all, represents a kind of language that's universal and lodged deep within our unconscious minds. Regardless of language identity, each human's initial attempts to create written language look very similar and, often, quite asemic. In this way, asemic art can serve as a sort of common language—albeit an abstract, post-literate one—that we can use to understand one another regardless of background or nationality. For all its limping-functionality, semantic language all too often divides and asymmetrically empowers while asemic texts can't help but put people of all literacy-levels and identities on equal footing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://scriptjr.nl/issues/1.1/satu-kaikkonen-1-1.php|title=SCRIPTjr.nl}}</ref>}}

[[Bruce Sterling]] comments about asemic writing on his [[Wired magazine]] blog ''Beyond the Beyond'': {{Quotation|Writing that doesn't have any actual writing in it whatsoever. You would think that this must be some kind of ultimate literary frontier, a frozen [[Antarctica]] of writing entirely devoid of literary content, but I wonder.

What is "beyond asemic writing"? Maybe a neural brain-scan of an author *thinking about* asemic writing. Maybe *generative asemic writing*. Maybe "asemic biomimicry". Maybe nanoasemic writing inscribed with atomic force microscopes by Artificial Intelligences.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/2009/07/web-semantics-asemic-writing/ |title=Web Semantics: Asemic writing |date=July 13, 2009 |last=Sterling |first=Bruce |magazine=[[Wired.com]]}}</ref>}}

==False writing systems==
'''False writing systems''' are artificially constructed [[alphabet]]s or scripts used (sometimes within the context of a [[false document]]) to convey a degree of [[wikt:verisimilitude|verisimilitude]]. Examples of this include alien dialogue in comic strips, [[animated cartoons]], and [[graphic novel]]s (such as [[Alan Moore]]'s ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'', and the ''[[Valérian and Laureline]]'' series).
The script in [[Luigi Serafini (artist)|Luigi Serafini]]'s 1981 ''[[Codex Seraphinianus]]'' was confirmed by the author to have no occult meaning. The [[Voynich manuscript]] uses an [[undeciphered writing system]] which some have speculated to be false.

==Gallery==
{{gallery
|File:MathMinusMath.jpg|''Math Minus Math:'' a text of asemic [[math]] by Rosaire Appel
|File:DerekBeaulieuFlatland.jpg|Asemic translation of ''[[Flatland]]'' by Derek Beaulieu
|File:KLIK59b.jpg|Asemic writing from Jean-Christophe Giacottino
| |Title page of ''A Book from the Sky'', in pseudo-Chinese characters. The characters "天書" (Tiānshū) do not appear anywhere in the book.
|File:Asemic graffiti.jpg|Asemic Post-Graffiti from Nuno de Matos (AKA Matox).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://postgraffiti.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/contemporary-art-graffiti-on-canvas-by-matox/asemic-writing-matox/|title=asemic-writing-matox|work=Post Graffiti :: Urban Skins|date=February 2012}}</ref>
|File:The Wheels of Transformation .jpg|The Wheels of Transformation - Asemic Writing by Tatiana Roumelioti
}}

==See also==
{{portal|Writing}}
{{columnslist|colwidth=15em|
*[[Arche-writing]]
*[[Autograph]]
*[[Calligraphy]] and [[calligraffiti]]
*[[Experimental literature]]
*[[Glossolalia]]
*[[Graphology]]
*[[Lorem ipsum]]
*[[Lyrical abstraction]]
*[[Manuscript]]
*[[Penmanship]]
*[[Proto-writing]]
*{{anli|Pseudo-Kufic}}
*[[Rorschach test]]
*[[Scribe]]
*[[Seme (semantics)]]
*[[Sound poetry]]
*[[Visual language]]
*[[Voynich manuscript]]
*[[Zaum]]
}}

==Notes==

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Avant-garde}}
{{Hidden messages}}
{{Literacy}}

[[Category:Writing systems]]
[[Category:Writing systems introduced in 1997]]
[[Category:Nonsense]]
[[Category:Poetry]]
[[Category:Language and mysticism]]

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