Ouvert Oeuvre: Openings

“Ouvert Oeuvre: Openings” is a book and multimedia project written by poet, performer, cultural theorist Adeena Karasick, visualized by designer/author, visual literature practitioner Warren Lehrer, published by Lavender Ink, 2023. The two poems that embody this work form an ecstatically wrought exploration of re-entering the world after a pandemic that never seems to end. In this collaborative book, Lehrer choreographs Karasick’s words on the stage of the page through typographic compositions that give form to the emotional, metaphorical, intralingual, historical and sonic underpinnings of the texts. The sensuous, textural, textual settings diagram themes within the poems like approach/withdrawal, navigating between and through a landscape of barriers and openings, seeking intimacy, fearing/daring to touch and be touched. Together, the writing and visuals engage the reader to become an active participant in the experience/performance of the work.
The book is augmented by an audio soundtrack recording of Karasick reading the poems with music composed and performed by Grammy award-winning composer and trumpet player, Frank London. Printed on acid-free paper, the smyth-sewn book, with its 3-color foil-stamped, 3-piece hardcover binding, aspires to bridge book art and trade publication, poetry and performance, print and online platforms, typographic and linguistic invention.