Lowland Lullaby

Tue Mar 26—Wed May 22 2002

A image of black showed trees on a green background with white light splotches.

The SI becomes the venue for a complex collaboration of sound and vision. Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone will install a stainless steel floor printed with an undulating wave pattern. Within this constructed stage, speakers will be imbedded and will amplify the voice of seminal, New York spoken-word poet John Giorno as he reads his poem, There Was A Bad Tree. This installation provides the platform for Swiss artist Urs Fischer's work. His drawings and sculpture though seemingly caught in a state of flux and unrest, will in turn serve to fuse the diverse elements of this unique collaboration.

This exhibit has been co-produced by the Swiss Institute; The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia; and Galerie Hauser & Wirth & Presenhuber, Zurich.

An innovator of Performance Poetry, John Giorno elevated Spoken Word to a high Art Form. One of the influential figures of 20th Centrury poetry, John Giorno's career spans forty years. John Giorno's work: written, performed, recorded and presented, has changed the way the world views poetry.

Giorno Poetry Systems innovated the use of technology in poetry, working with electronic and multi-media, creating new venues, and connecting poetry with new audiences.

In 1968, John Giorno created Dial-A-Poem, and innovated the use of the telephone for mass communications. Dial-A-Poem was the first time the telephone was used to communicate mass audiences. Dial-A-Poem's enormous success, receiving millions of calls, gave rise to a Dial-A-something industry, from Dial-A-Joke, to phone sex, to 900 numbers. Dial-A-Poem ushered in a new era in tele-communcations.