Poema objecte, 1967

I have plenty of objects. I exhibited them in Berlin and they were very well received. For example, I have one that is a light bulb and on the bulb is written: ‘POEM.’ Sure, people have the reference of the bulb, but not the connotation of the word POEM on the bulb. There is an element of shock. A change of support. I think it’s an extension of visual poetry on paper, to make it on the object.

But does it remain poetry or does it become visual art?

I think it’s visual poetry, because I always make the concept of the word intervene. Sometimes it doesn’t, but, of course, then it is also very special, because I don’t think these objects of mine could ever be made by a painter.

I never take the visual into account, I’m only interested in the semantic content of the object. A magnet, for example, has a reference; I'm interested in the magnet itself, not in how good it looks. These things have to be seen, the object must be experienced.

Of course, the fact of the representation of a thing is already visual, but I try to give it an internal content. More than the thing itself, it’s what it represents. A serpentine, for example, has a carnival connotation, and it is this that interests me more than the round shape of the serpentine. And this can only be done by a poet, not a painter.

Mercadé Riambau, Josep: ‘Joan Brossa parla de la poesia visual’, Revista de Catalunya, no. 141 (June 1999), pp. 93–106