Topography of Semantics

Stanisław Dróżdż builds an artistic discourse on the basis of an isolated word-sign. He divides letters and digits into pieces, singling them out from the reality and presenting as autonomous word-images. He is the most important representative of “concrete poetry”, which he defines in the following way: “(…) concrete peotry is based on autonomising the word (…) so that the word would have a meaning in itself and for itself. In concrete poetry the form is determined by the content and the content – by the form. Traditional poetry describes images. Concrete poetry writes with images (…)”. Concrete poetry is an extremely rigorous type of poetry. The space in which it is embedded always contributes to the poetic message of the work. “Topography of Semantics” on the facade of the Wrocław Opera building becomes an important word-image. Black and white, economical esthetics of the texts is presented in direct relation with their ethical and existentional message. Words following one another, thanks to their autonomy and the lack of reference to any given context, refer the audience to the linguistic system as a network of meanings (relations). (editing: Anna Kołodziejczyk)