About


Established by Larry Lynch in 1997, Acts of Language is concerned with the publication, dissemination and production of the types of experimental writing and cross-artform text work often captured under the term Performance Writing. Between 1997 and 2001 a number of events were produced, including ‘Writing Aloud’ (Institute of Contemporary Art, London), featuring performances by Aaron Williamson, cris cheek, Grainne Cullen and Fabienne Audeoud, and ‘The Space Writing’ (Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham), including live/audio work by Miles Champion, Caroline Bergvall, Daniel Gosling and Edith-Marie Pasquier. In 2000 Acts of Language collaborated with The Liminal Institute (a transeuropean artists collective) to produce a 2 week festival in Berlin, that included work by (amongst others) ‘Things Not Worth Keeping’, Caroline Bergvall, Ric Allsopp, Sarah Frances and Ciaran Maher. Around this time the book ‘Sweet G Variations’ by Gregg Whelan was published, and Acts of Language worked with Brigid Mc Leer on the development stages of her networked project ‘In Place of the Page’.

From 2001 – 2008, for various reasons, Acts of Language lay somewhat dormant but is now fully reinitiated, with the same general objectives, though with an increased emphasis on publishing work in a variety of formats. Plans for live, audio and gallery projects are all also underway.

Current fields of activity can be categorised as follows:

- Short-run book publication (such as Tony Lopez’s Darwin and a forthcoming collection from Marianne Morris)
- The publication of ‘book-objects’ (such as the forthcoming Loose Packed by Lee Harwood and John Hall)
- Limited Edition prints of text-work by artists and writers
- The production and release of new audio work (as well as making live recordings available on this site)
- The production of an occasional series of audio/video podcasts (to be accessed via iTunes)
- The production of other live/gallery events such as the recent Dartington Campus Readings
- The production and dissemination of digital/networked writing projects

Projects currently under development include the following publications:

- Five Rooms by artists collective ‘Propeller’ (Available June 09)
- A new poetry collection by Marianne Morris
- Black Water Brown Water by David Prior (Book + Audio CD/Available July 09)
- Loose Packed (pack of cards) by Lee Harwood and John Hall

and

- Seasons 2 and 3 of the Dartington Campus Readings
- An occasional series of audio/video podcasts (available May 09)