Poetry Brossa

«Brossa does not create; he selects», says Roger Bernat. And, indeed, Brossa works with scattered poems, ideas noted in margins, sentences, press cuttings, theatrical and paratheatrical plays. Poetry Brossa presents the artist’s work against the grain, beyond limits, and between disciplines through his books, visual investigations, theatre, cinema, music and artistic actions.

Structured in the form of a glossary, the book also establishes parallels with the work of three artists who were Brossa’s contemporaries: Marcel Mariën, Nicanor Parra and Ian Hamilton-Finlay. The publication includes essays by the curators Teresa Grandas and Pedro G. Romero, and contributions by Roger Bernat, Isabel de Naverán and María Salgado, who conceive some of the core definitions in the glossary. There is also an analysis by Llorenç Mas of a selection of sequences from the short film No compteu amb els dits (Don’t Count with Your Fingers, 1967), directed by Pere Portabella. Additionally, three inserts feature works by Brossa, including Oda a Joan Brossa, Novel·la, and the collaborative piece Barcelona per Brossa, in which Colita captures Brossa’s itinerary through Barcelona in autumn 1979.