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Found Asemics

Asemic* writing is an open form of writing made up of visual cues that look like writing, but lack a specific meaning. When read, asemic writings reflect the experiences and interpretations of the reader. In this way, the art of asemic writing can simultaneously have infinite meanings and none at all.


Sometimes, asemic alphabets form organically - in the knotted tendrils of dry grass, in the linked council of constellations, or in the lean silhouette of a tree at dawn, for example. Here, I found an alphabet in the twisted scraps of roadside metal. Shaped beneath the weighty tread of thick tires and weather cycles, each glyph has a readable signature, though interpretations are left to the individual.


*The phrase asemic writing has come under some debate. Jim Leftwich, the visual poet who dubbed the written movement as asemic now uses the term pansemic to describe the work. According to Wikipedia, asemic means "having no specific semantic content", or "without the smallest unit of meaning". Leftwich states that "an asemic condition of an asemic work is an impossible goal, and that it is not possible to create an art/literary work entirely without meaning". At this stage, asemic is most commonly used to describe the artistic practice, although pansemic and other titles like abstract text are gaining momentum.

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