Breaking Lines Exhibition Catalogue

This catalogue was published to accompany the exhibition Breaking Lines, currently on show at the Estorick Collection.

Breaking Lines is a two-part survey of experimental poetry, from its roots in the Futurist movement to it's evolution into concrete poetry in post war Britian and abroad.

Although perhaps better known today for its contribution to the visual arts, Italian Futurism was in fact founded and led by a poet – Filippo Tommaso Marinetti – and the many writers who gravitated toward the movement would go on to produce a body of work that was as vast and as groundbreaking as that of its painters. The first part of this display charts the distinct phases through which Futurist poetry passed, with a particular focus on those forms of experimentation that reflected the movement’s desire to “redouble the expressive force of words” by emphasising and exploiting the visual and/or sonic dimensions of language.

Among the items on display are rare original editions of works such as Fortunato Depero’s famous ‘bolted book’ Depero futurista, and copies of important manifestos from the Estorick Collection’s archives. Also featured are newspapers and journals such as L’Italia futurista, which made a significant contribution to the dissemination of new poetic research in their day and helped establish an international avant-garde network.

This contextualising display complements an exhibition focusing on the work of Dom Sylvester Houédard (1924– 1992), widely recognised as one of the masters of concrete poetry. A Benedictine monk and noted theologian, Houédard wrote extensively on new approaches to creativity, spirituality and philosophy, and collaborated with figures such as Gustav Metzger, Yoko Ono and John Cage.

His work – which blurs the boundaries between literature and visual art – helped shape the development of post-war British poetry, but also influenced the global experimental poetry movement.

The catalogue includes works featured in the exhibition as well as contextual notes written by our Assitant Curator, Dr. Christopher Adams. This catalogue has been thoughtfully designed by Studio Bergini in a newsletter format to reflect the often ephimeral nature of the works on show, with many of them originally published in magazines and newspapers. It will be delivered folded.

Publisher: Estorick Foundation (2025)

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