poem/scores nr. 8 + 13
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- poem/scores nr. 8 + 13
- 1969
- black pencil on millimeter paper, 2 drawings
- 30 × 21 cm
At the end of the 1960s, Jiří Valoch created a small series of artworks based on his interest in graphic musical scores. In this case as well, his roles as a curator and an artist collide—because at the same time, he was studying the acoustic drawings by Milan Grygar and preparing his curatorial project “Partitures” (October 1969, Brno House of Arts, December 1969, Prague Gallery). The catalog of this exhibition situates the problematics of graphic scores in the field of intermedia art and discusses their connection with visual poetry, happenings, and contemporary music. It also stresses the local tradition of this theme in Brno in light of the internationally acclaimed composer Leoš Janáček. The visual aspects of Janáček’s scores are inspiring in how they reflect the process behind and layers of a composition. He asked an array of international artists to contribute to “Partitures.” The exhibition was attended by Allan Kaprow, John Cage, Milan Adamčiak and Georg Maciunas, who provided Valoch with a collection of scores by artists from the Fluxus movement. Valoch’s own works in the graphic score genre consist of a small cycle of pieces on thin paper that were created as the 1970s drew nearer. More than by the need to “see music,” to visually perceive a musical structure, Valoch’s pieces are characterized by an interest in the semantics of optical ordering. In a sense, his art affects a balancing act here between visual score and poetry. In 1969, a few of them were printed in the magazine “Sonda” (published in Madrid) together with a study on the visual music of Milan Grygar and the Brno-based composer Richard Brun. J.P.