Ferdinand Kriwet – Typographic Art, 1963.

Roundscheibe No.12 by Ferdinand Kriwet, 1963
( See more 1960s Typographic Art on Retrographica )

Six Radio Texts by Ferdinand Kriwet

Six of Kriwets legendary ‘Sehtexts’ (visual texts) reproduced on six picture disc LPs combined with six of his legendary Hörspiel works / sound collages originally broadcast on German radio and previously unreleased: ‘Apollo America’ (1969), ‘Voice of America’ (1970), ‘Campaign’ (1973), snapshots of American media at the beginning of the 1970s; ‘Radioball’ (1975) and ‘Ball’ (1974), reflecting soccer sports in Germany in the 1970s; and ‘Radio’ (1983).

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German multimedia artist and poet Ferdinand Kriwet (1942–) has been assimilating text, language and sound since the 1960s. He has created many circular text works resembling mandalas like the ones shown above.

In addition to visual works, Kriwet is also known for his “sound picture collages” and experiments in radio, television and publishing. Notably, his sound collage works “Apollo Amerika” (1969) and “Campaign” (1973) are both outstanding artistic documents of these extraordinary historical events. Kriwet created the work “Apollo Amerika” during his stay in the United States at the time of the legendary moon launch…

His aim being to compose a work of perception derived from all information he gathered on radio and television about the Apollo 11 launch. He describes these as “Hörtexts, Radio Texts” - radio pieces composed of noise and sound bite and samples. Kriwet’s works are an attempt at communicating an idea of listening to something that constantly surrounds us on short, medium and long wave frequencies. His politically engaged and avant-garde approach was influenced by aesthetic and Conceptual currents in Constructivism, New Music, Beat Generation and Pop.

–Edition RZ

I came across an audio sample of Kriwet’s “Apollo Amerika” sound collage and it is fascinating. You can listen to it here. (The audio player is approximately midway down the page.) Unfortunately, there are limited online resources on Kriwet in English. Here is a short list:

>> ICA – Institute of Contemporary Artists
>> Edition RZ – Historical Recordings (for purchase)

[ All work & images © Ferdinand Kriwet ]
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