Endless Variation: Asemic Glyphs and the Intimation of Infinity

The uniqueness of asemic writing is its ability to give specific impressions – to transmit meanings, concepts, and abstract notions through word-like characters. Semantically meaningless in essence but suggestive of meaning through its similarity to an actual writing system, these characters become open to a diversity of interpretations and imaginings. And as an art form,…

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Derrida, Barthes, and the Origins of Asemic Writing

In my first post on asemic writing, I briefly touched on the origins of this art form, noting that the artists Tim Gaze and Jim Leftwich applied the term asemic to their quasi-calligraphic works in 1997. (See my review of Gaze’s latest book, Glyphs of Uncertain Meaning, which also includes some more information about the…

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