
SECOND ANNUAL VISPO CONTEST
Contest period: June 1 to June 25, 2022
We are back with our Annual Visual Poetry Contest! Get your pieces ready because we cannot wait to see your wondrous creations. :) Good luck and happy creating!
Judges: Shloka Shankar & Robin Smith
What is Vispo?
Visual poetry is a development of concrete poetry, characterized by intermedia. The predominant elements that constitute a visual poem/vispo include non-representational language and the interplay of text & art. There is a strong graphic element to these pieces.
“Visual poetry can be defined as poetry that is meant to be seen—poetry that presupposes a viewer as well as a reader.”— Willard Bohn
“Never before has language had so much materiality—fluidity, plasticity, malleability—begging to be actively managed by the writer. Before digital language, words were almost always found imprisoned on a page. It’s just another reminder that, in the future, words very well might not only be written to be read but rather to be shared, moved, and manipulated, sometimes by humans, more often by machines, providing us with an extraordinary opportunity to reconsider what writing is and to define new roles for the writer. While the writer today is challenged by having to go up against a proliferation of words and compete for attention, she can use this proliferation in unexpected ways to create works that are as expressive and meaningful as works constructed in more traditional ways.” — Kenneth Goldsmith
What to submit:
- blackout poems (cite the source)
- erasures (cite the source & use YOUR original artwork)
- haiga (collaborations welcome)
- Artist Trading Cards
- fridge magnet poetry
- asemic writing
- typography art
- collage & cut-ups (digital & analogue)
- altered book pages
- conceptual pieces
- mixed-media pieces with a textual element
Guidelines:
1. Send your entry as an attachment to sonicboomjournal@gmail.com. ALL work must be unpublished. We do not consider pieces published on social media/personal blogs as published.
2. Please name each file with the title of your piece and your full name. Example: Summer Moon_Paul Martin.
3. The first entry is FREE.
4. If you'd like to submit up to THREE pieces for consideration, there is a non-refundable entry fee of Rs. 200 / $3 USD. If you reside in India, kindly make the payment using this link here. If you reside outside India, kindly make the payment using PayPal to shloks89@gmail.com.
5. Please include VISPO CONTEST in the subject line.
6. Make sure you include your name, country, and a short artist's statement or note about your entry/entries in the body of the email. We would love to know your process! Kindly also include your Razorpay receipt if you reside in India.
7. Submissions will remain open from June 1 through June 25, 2022. Entries received before or after the contest period will be deleted unread.
8. Please note that the deadline for entries is June 25, 2021 at midnight IST (Indian Standard Time).
9. The top three winners will receive e-certificates and a cash prize in accordance with the total amount received from the entry fees.
10. Shortlisted entries will be displayed in an online gallery format on our website. In addition, we may also select a few entries to be published in the Visual Art section of Issue Twenty-Three.
VISPO GALLERY 2021
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