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Interwar Avant-Garde Poetry

November 2016

In this collection, originally featured in the November 2016 issue of Words Without Borders, we present a group of interwar avant-garde visual poems selected and introduced by Meghan Forbes.

The Magazine as Manifesto
By Meghan Forbes
The artistic production of a group of leftist artists, poets, and editors in Central Europe in the interwar period reflects an optimism for a “new Europe.”
Metropolis Dynamics
By Lászlo Moholy-Nagy
This marks the first time that the Hungarian version of “Metropolis Dynamics” has been translated with its graphic layout and original linocuts intact.
Translated from Hungarian by Irina Denischenko & Bradley Gorski
Printing: On Layout
By Mieczysław Szczuka and Teresa Żarnowerówna
Translator Duda has upgraded nonsense phrasings with a nod to our digital age, and designer Kwiecień-Janikowski maintains the dynamism of the printed version, but again with a clever nod to our temporal remove.
Translated from Polish by Paulina Duda & Wojtek Kwiecień-Janikowski
New Art
By Bedřich Václavek
Václavek attempts to outline the ways in which developments in engineering and socialized labor practices are integral models for contemporary art practice.
Translated from Czech by Meghan Forbes
ButtsLoaDs
By Dragan Aleksić
A visual manifestation of New Typography’s potential power and visual dynamism, Aleksić’s use of nonsense words and enigmatic phrases conjure the chaos of the stock market.
Translated from Serbo-Croatian by Jennifer Zoble, Aleksandar Bošković & Ian McLellan Davis