M HKA Ensembles

Mixed Media, 99 x 64 cm.

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp - Donated by Jan De Vree.

Poetical Licence (1971) by Sarenco is an iconic work that reflects on the commitment of the poesia visiva in a very striking way: a picture of an Irish girl during the street riots in the early seventies in Ulster which is on the verge of throwing a large stone to British soldiers and officials. This image illustrates Sarenco's plea for a radical and engaging  poetry; a poetry with vigor and social relevance, as counterculture, geared to social emancipation. The poesia visiva will be fully developed in the seventies within Lotta Poetica, an international artists' magazine, published by Sarenco and the Belgian poet Paul De Vree. The visual poets are not without obligation, but activists who have to witness a global commitment. They us their creativity in a aggressive, ironic or satirical way, politically underpinned, against the tyranny and violence of any social system. The visual poems and writings of Sarenco often take the form of a propaganda pamphlet, a provocation, a burlesque, an incitement to (counter) action:  “L’unique effet que la non-violence obtient est celui de permettre aus riches de rever un monde encore meilleur de celui dont ils disposent”.