Postmasters: Thomas Muller

Thomas Muller (www) / Understanding Concrete Poetry

The interactive multimedia title "Understanding Concrete Poetry" is an educational product for explaining, interpreting and reconfiguring concrete poetry. The core idea of this form of poetry can be summarized in this way: the visual form of the poem is an integral and essential part of its interpretation. The form of the poem is the poem. Its content is revealed through its form. The approach of this title to transform traditional, static typography into a dynamized form of typography offers a completely new way to visually interpret this poetry. The dynamic concrete poem becomes the basis for a visual based interpretation of poetry. Through the dynamic form of information display, which is different from a traditional, analog textbook, "Understanding Concrete Poetry" offers a new approach to literary theory.

The quiet and understated user interface, developed out of the graphic language of concrete poetry, takes a role that is secondary to the content, which is the beauty of concrete poetry. The interface creates an information space for the user to start his exploration of concrete poetry by offering a new temporal-spatial approach to the subject matter. The interface offers a simultaneity of accessing the poetry: by analytical category, or by an emotional approach based on a visual stimulation. Five different sections provide the user with information about concrete poetry. The sections range from literary theory to dynamic typographical visualizations of complex formal structures of concrete poetry. The tools that allow the user to temporarily alter the form of a poem, as well as the animated poetry, illustrate the dynamic representations of typography.