Poetry Reading: Hans Arp by Jaap Blonk

Museum audiences know Hans Arp as a founding member of Zurich Dada, a leading surrealist, and an outspoken advocate of artistic abstraction. But he was also a prolific poet, whose imagistic writing resonates with the concrete forms of his sculptures and collages. In this performance, Arp’s art and poetry will come together in the gallery showcasing our current installation of his room-sized relief Constellations II, which he made for the Harvard Graduate Center in the 1950s.

Sound poet and composer Jaap Blonk will perform a selection of poems spanning Arp’s long career. Like Arp, Blonk is a versatile musician, artist, and poet. He has recorded and frequently performs the sound poetry of the historic avant-garde, including by Dada artists Hugo Ball and Kurt Schwitters. Melissa Venator, curator of the exhibition Hans Arp’s Constellations II and the Stefan Engelhorn Curatorial Fellow in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, will introduce the program.

Free with museums admission. This program is limited to 20 people and tickets are required. Ten minutes before the talk, tickets will become available at the admissions desk.

Please meet in the Calderwood Courtyard, in front of the digital screens between the shop and the admissions desk. Museums staff will be on hand to collect tickets.

This program is offered in conjunction with the complementary exhibitions The Bauhaus and Harvard and Hans Arp’s Constellations II, on view at the Harvard Art Museums through July 28, 2019.