Egidija Čiricaitė on Visual Poetry, Artist Books, and the Verse Verso Symposium

On 30 May, Verse Verso: Visual Poetry and Artist Books at the Warburg Institute invites audiences into the rich and imaginative terrain of visual poetry and artist books. Organised by artist, poet and researcher Egidija Čiricaitė, this half-day symposium brings together artists, poets, librarians and scholars to explore the material and creative potential of the page. We spoke to Egidija about her creative practice, her fascination with the fusion of word and image, and what inspired her to bring Verse Verso into being.

What is 'visual poetry' and what are 'artist books'?

To put it simply, visual poetry is composed to be seen as much as to be read. It is a type of poetry where the visual arrangement speaks as loudly as individual words — where the poem’s appearance on the page amplifies, extends, adjusts the meaning. The term itself only appeared in the 1950s to denote collaged works of art, which integrated language and image. It now retrospectively covers every kind of visual poem from antiquity to today: Ancient Greek pattern poems by Simmias of Rhodes, medieval image poems by Saint Hrabanus Maurus, Baroque panegyric compositions by Simeon Polotsky, Su Hui’s embroidery, Lewis Carroll’s The Mouse's Tale, Eugen Gomringer’s constellations, Greg Thomas’s candles.

Contemporary visual poetry builds largely on the foundations laid in the middle of the 20th century by concrete poetry — a movement which sought simpler, more direct ways to write poetry, discarding syntactic order between the words, emphasising the material and sound properties of language. 

Similarly, artist books too emerged as an arts medium in the 20th century — artists were seeking a more direct contact with the audience, bypassing the gallery system, encouraged by the development of accessible printing technologies, such as the mimeograph. The production of an artist book is led by an artist, a poet, a photographer, who develops the form of the book so it fits the idea, which may result in experimental, unusual page designs, choices of paper and binding. I find this isomorphism of form and meaning particularly exciting!

Please could you tell us a bit about yourself and your artistic practice? 

 I was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, where I grew up. Shortly after I had finished my degree in English Linguistics, I met Peter, who became my husband — and that is how I ended up in London. At the moment, I write poetry and artist books, creating nebulous worlds at the periphery of linguistic experience. I am also pursuing an interdisciplinary PhD at the Slade with UCL Linguistics, London.

I was driven into visual poetry and artist books through my interest in language. I am fascinated by language, I am fascinated with how language works, how we make sense of each other, how we negotiate ambiguity, blank spaces, vagueness. I explore language through writing experimental poetry, artist books and academic research. My PhD research looks into close interplay between word and image in contemporary artist books, using relevance theory in pragmatics (linguistics) as a lens to bring insights into how we make sense of such complex verbi-visual objects, how we perceive artists’ books as books, as art, as awe inducing objects of enjoyment and inspiration. My article, The Relevance of Relevance - A glance at artists’ books from pragmatics; and a few observations has recently been published by The Blue Notebook: Journal for artists' books. 

My art practice is currently focused on visual poetry. I work with language at the cusp of fusion between its material and linguistic existence — the cusp of seeing and reading. I often use extremely light Japanese papers that further diffuse the presence of print: my artist books are ethereal, with pages bleeding into each other across layers of typewritten sheets, destabilising the reading experience into a fluid encounter with words. I largely produce visual poetry books as objects and as performances. Last year I had solo shows in Chengdu, China and Vienna, Austria. My work is held internationally at most public collections.

What inspired you to organise a symposium focused on visual poetry and artist books?

It is a hugely exciting space of conversations at the convergence of disciplines, at the threshold between literary and visual arts! There is a big overlap between the fields: poets are exploring the space of the book as a performance space, and artists are playing with language on the page. Interdisciplinary by their nature (and name!) — both artist books and visual poetry are fascinating as much as they are impossible to pigeonhole.

Please could you give us a brief introduction to the event Verse Verso: Visual Poetry and Artist Books?

Verse Verso: Visual Poetry and Artist Books will lightly trek around contemporary ecologies of the artist book, considering visual writing in them. Bringing together artists, poets, librarians, researchers — along with a display of artist books — to celebrate the material poetic word and its page today.

For those new to visual poetry and artist books, what can attendees expect from the event?

 This is a great event for those who are new to visual poetry or artists books! It will not be an afternoon of formal powerpoint presentations! The event offers readings, explorations, and conversations around contemporary visual poetry and artist books, as well as a chance to engage with the real artist books and talk to their creators. 

The day will be opened by Chris McCabe, the Head of the National Poetry Library, which houses an extraordinary collection of visual poetry artist books. Chris is also a poet: his work spans art forms and genres including poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama and visual art. His work has been shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award. He is the editor of several anthologies including The New Concrete: Visual Poetry in the 21st Century. 

Further speakers will include Elizabeth Lawes, the UCL Subject Liaison Librarian for Fine Art and History of Art, and the Collection Manager of the UCL Small Press Collections. UCL holds a significant collection of 20th century independently published, experimental literary, counter-cultural, and visual art publications. Liz will present a selection of those publications to the audience, discussing the complexities of managing a collection that falls between art and literature. 

Gill Partington will speak about what we read on the page — visible and invisible. Gill is an artist and an academic and one of the co-founders and editors of Inscription – Journal of Material Text: Theory, Practice, History. She has published on artists Tom Phillips and John Latham, and book burning. She is currently working on a research project at the IES, Page Not Found, tracing the outer limits and unexpected histories of the page.

Gustavo Grandal Montero curated one of my favourite exhibitions — Astro-poems and Vertical Group Exercises: Concrete poetry at Chelsea Space, London in 2018. He is the most interesting conversationalist on the relations between experimental literary and visual arts from the 1950s to the 1990s! He is currently Library Collections and Engagement Manager at Tate and he is also the Editor of the Art Libraries Journal (Cambridge University Press). 

The event will also include four artist/poet presentations. The artists will have their books on display, available for the audience to explore.

Robin Tomens creates unruly typewritten pages of letters, and words, and images. He has composed visual poetry for decades using print, paint, paper, pen and typewriter. His work has been featured in magazines such as Le Monde Diplomatique (France) and Maintenant (USA). In 2022 he won the Wishing Jewel Prize (USA). He has created books for small press publishers such as Timglaset and Redfoxpress

Susan Johanknecht and Katharine Meynell have made artists’ books together for over 30 years under the aegis of the Gefn Press and the Boundary Street Press. They will be performing one of their works: translating visual poetry into sound poetry. Their artist book Manhole a marginal duet was nominated for Prix Bob Calle in 2022. Their work is held in many public collections such as the New York Public Library, Tate Library, Yale University Library, MOMA, NY, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.

Rachel Smith is an artist and a visual poet, as well as a publisher and co-editor of Intergraphia books. Her hybrid practice flies through existing texts, using association, error, and distraction to explore how sense might be sought, rejected, and re-fused. Her work has been published nationally and internationally in visual poetry anthologies and online journals, as well as by Penteract Press and Timglaset.

Andrew Morrison makes beautiful small editions of artists’ books usually using letterpress and woodcut. He is drawn to the physicality of materials and processes, which influence book construction and the texts that he writes. He uses simple narratives or sequential structures, where image and text have equal weighting both in meaning and in material presence. Andrew’s books often look for wildness in a seemingly tamed world; they look for ambiguity, words with dual meanings, uncertainly. 

The day will complete with an informal chat with the speakers and a chance to hold, to read, and to experience those wonderful books that lie at the threshold of art and literature.

Verse Verso: Visual Poetry and Artist Books takes place at the Warburg Institute on 30 May 2025, from 1:00–6:00pm, as part of the Warburg’s Art & The Book season. Tickets are £10 standard / £6 concessions, booking is open.

Egidija Čiricaitė plays with and around language through (type)writing, publishing and academic research, creating nebulous worlds at the periphery of linguistic experience. Born in Kaunas, Lithuania, she is now based in London, pursuing an interdisciplinary PhD at the Slade with UCL Linguistics, London.

Egidija’s most recent exhibitions include Lovatiesė, MEWS, Chengdu, China, March 28 - May 26, 2024, Dangus/Dew, Galerie DRUCK & BUCH, 1090 Wien, Austria, June 6-28, 2024 and Lovatiesė, Quanyechang Cultural Arts Center, Beijing, June 12 - 20, 2024. Her paper The Relevance of Relevance was published in Artist Books Journal in autumn 2024. Egidija’s artist books are held at major public and private collections, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art (USA), Museum of Fine Art (Boston, USA), Tate (London), Yale Center for British Art (USA), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Munchen), the National Poetry Library (London), Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin), Bibliotheque Kandinsky-Centre Pompidou (Paris).