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Now playing at a metro station near you!

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WORDLESS! is coming to the Philharmonie de Paris on Sunday June 17th, 2018.

Two shows (4.30PM and 8.30PM).

“As a performance, Wordless! transforms the intimate act of reading comics into a group experience. Spiegelman leads you on a tour of the first graphic novels - silent picture stories made by early 20th-century masters like Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward, and Milt Gross - alongside a new work of his own drawn specifically for this show, Shaping Thought. Both the images on screen, and Spiegelman’s own infectious enthusiasm for the graphic novel are enhanced by Johnston’s swinging score, performed by his Jazz sextet The Silent Six.”

“Spiegelman delights in undermining stuffy theory, letting Johnston’s music burst in to express his joy on seeing the stories that flash before us… It’s disorienting, but as he warned us at the beginning, that’s part of the point.’ Paris Review”

BUY TICKETS

#comix art spiegelman artspiegelman Phillip Johnston phillipjohnston #wordless moving pictures graphic novels live band #Si Lewen #milt gross #frans masereel HM Bateman lynd ward otto nuckel Shaping Thought

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WORDLESS! is coming to the London Jazz Festival / Barbican Center on November 11, 2016.

"As a performance, Wordless! transforms the intimate act of reading comics into a group experience. Spiegelman leads you on a tour of the first graphic novels - silent picture stories made by early 20th-century masters like Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward, and Milt Gross - alongside a new work of his own drawn specifically for this show, Shaping Thought. Both the images on screen, and Spiegelman’s own infectious enthusiasm for the graphic novel are enhanced by Johnston’s swinging score, performed by his Jazz sextet The Silent Six.

‘Spiegelman delights in undermining stuffy theory, letting Johnston’s music burst in to express his joy on seeing the stories that flash before us… It’s disorienting, but as he warned us at the beginning, that’s part of the point.’ Paris Review"

BUY TICKETS – BARBICAN

          BUY TICKETS – LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL

#comix #art spiegelman #artspiegelman #Phillip Johnston #phillipjohnston #wordless #moving pictures #graphic novels #live band #Si Lewen #milt gross #frans masereel #HM Bateman #lynd ward #otto nuckel #Shaping Thought

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Click to read the full interview with Art Spiegelman about the origins of WORDLESS! and the show in Buenos Aires. 

#comix #art spiegelman #Art Spiegelman's Co-Mix: A Retrospective #Phillip Johnston #phillipjohnston #artspiegelman #wordless #moving pictures #graphic novels #live band #Si Lewen #milt gross #frans masereel #HM Bateman #lynd ward #otto nuckel #Shaping Thought

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WORDLESS! at Comicópolis 2015 in  Buenos Aires

WORDLESS! comes to the third installation of the International Comic Festival, Comicópolis. Art Spiegelman and Phillip Johnston are among the special guests invited to perform and speak at the four day event. 

#comix #art spiegelman #artspiegelman #phillipjohnston #phillip Johnston #wordless #moving pictures #graphic novels #Si Lewen #live band #milt gross #frans masereel #hm bateman #lynd ward #otto nuckel #shaping thought

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One chance to see WORDLESS! live at Miller Theatre, Columbia University, 2015

On March 13, 2015, WORDLESS! will be performed at Miller Theatre at Columbia University. Tickets now on sale at the Miller Theatre Box Office!

For more information visit the Heyman Center for the Humanities event link.

"WORDLESS! offers many delights, and a fair measure of darkly challenging art, as well. It reaches as deeply as the works it celebrates. Through the artful use of words, movies, information-sharing, storytelling and music it connects some of the most noble comics ever made not only to the mind, but the heart."

Read the full review from The Comics Journal 

Cosponsored by the Heyman Center for the Humanities, Department of Music at Columbia University, Columbia University Libraries, and The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies

#Wordless #comics #graphic novels #art spiegelman #Phillip Johnston #live performance #live show #live band #woodcut #woodcut novels #woodcuts #jazz band #lecture #comic books #last performance #last chance #the comics journal #the miller theater #columbia university

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WORDLESS! at Williams College in MA, 2015

Tuesday, March 10th, 2015 at 7:30 PM, WORDLESS! will have its second to last performance at Williams College. 

Free tickets available at the '62CTD box office.  413-597-2425, Tues - Sat, 1-4 pm or online

1000 Main St, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267, USA

#Williams college #wordless #art spiegelman #comics #Phillip Johnston #spiegelman #graphic novel #lectures #free lectures #milt gross #live band #live jazz

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WORDLESS! review from The Comics Journal

"Like the silent comics it presents, WORDLESS! has a lot to say. And much of what is said holds within it the potential to transform. Literature is transformed from prose to visual art. Simultaneously, visual art is transformed into literature. The introduction of old, strange comics to a new audience also creates a transformation around our understanding of the form itself.  In developing this luminous musical art lecture Art Spiegelman and Phillip Johnston have created yet another transformation: the intimate act of reading comics turned into watching/experiencing comics as part of a group. .... WORDLESS! offers many delights, and a fair measure of darkly challenging art, as well. It reaches as deeply as the works it celebrates. Through the artful use of words, movies, information-sharing, storytelling and music it connects some of the most noble comics ever made not only to the mind, but the heart. As Si Lewen observed in 2010: “Even when ‘dead serious,’ the creative process, ultimately, should prove to be a redeeming, even jubilant event, perhaps not only for the artist.” Not only for the artist, indeed."

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE

#Comics #thecomicsjournal #art spiegelman #the comics journal #Phillip Johnston #spiegelman #wordless #movingpictures #lecture #storytelling #live band #live show #graphic novels #review #Si Lewen #creative process #silent movies

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Here's a video of an early study—an "outtake"—from WORDLESS! the slide tawk & live music extravaganza that composer/saxophonist Phillip Johnston and I will be touring with in October.  It's a classic of comics timing by the great H.M. Bateman from a 1921 Punch magazine—cited by Alfred Hitchcock (another master of timing) as the inspiration for the famous Albert Hall sequence of The Man Who Knew Too Much!

[credits: Phillip Johnston: soprano saxophone, Nick Bowd, baritone saxophone, James Greening: trombone; video editing by Lindsay Nordell and Annalise Olson, with direction from Art Spiegelman]

#comics #H.M. BATEMAN #art spiegelman #jazz #Phillip Johnston

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WORDLESS! 2014 Tour Details–– tickets available now for an "intellectual vaudeville show"

Wednesday, October 8, 2014 Cleveland OH -- Oberlin College

Friday, October 10, 2014 UC Berkeley, CA — Cal Performances

Sunday, October 12, 2014 Seattle, WA -- Seattle Theatre Group, Moore Theater

Wednesday, October 15, 2014 Los Angeles, CA -- UCLA, Royce Hall

Friday, October 17, 2014 Santa Barbara, CA -- UCSB, Arts & Lectures

Sunday, October 19, 2014 Kansas City, MO -- Kauffman Center

Tuesday, October 21, 2014 Washington, DC -- GWU Lisner Auditorium

Sunday, October 26, 2014 Boston, MA -- The Institute of Contemporary Art

#art spiegelman #jazz #Phillip Johnston #comics

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The official trailer for "WORDLESS!" Here's your sneak peek of the show. 

#wordless #artspiegelman #Art Spiegelman's Co-Mix: A Retrospective #art spiegelman #Phillip Johnston #BAM #bam opera house #frans masereel #woodcut #graphic novel #live music #live show #lecture #university of chicago #Colorado College #maus #HM Bateman #H.M. BATEMAN #lynd ward #otto nuckel #milt gross #Si Lewen #intellectual #vaudeville #show

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Shaping Thought! a new piece from Art Spiegelman, featured in WORDLESS!

#wordless #Art Spiegelman's Co-Mix: A Retrospective #art spiegelman #BAM #bam opera house #Colorado College #university of chicago #Phillip Johnston #live music #live show #lecture #comics #graphic novel #woodcut #Shaping Thought #new work #maus

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Work from Milt Gross, He Done Her Wrong, featured in WORDLESS!

© 1930 Milt Gross

Courtesy of Joan Optican Herman

#milt gross #he done her wrong #no words #Art Spiegelman's Co-Mix: A Retrospective #art spiegelman #Phillip Johnston #bam #wordless #bam opera house #performance #Colorado College #university of chicago #comics #old comics #slapstick #black and white #b & w #funnies

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Work by Si Lewen featured in WORDLESS!

The Parade

©1957 Si Lewen. used by permission of the artist

In 1951, in a fan letter, Einstein said of the Parade: “Our time needs you and your work.”

#1951 #albert einstein #einstein #einstein quotes #si lewen #word #the parade #artwork #war #expression #show #art spiegelman #Art Spiegelman's Co-Mix: A Retrospective #maus #bam #bam opera house #Colorado College #university of chicago #Phillip Johnston #musical performance #comics #wordless novels

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Art Spiegelman. Photo: Prudence Upton.

Original article and review of Wordless Here

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The AU Review of WORDLESS!

It’s undeniable that Art Spiegelman is nothing short of a cartoon genius. His Pulitizer Prize-winning Maus (1991) is renowned for bringing a newfound intelligence to graphic novels, allowing the medium to gain credibility and respect. But during the performance that was Wordless, what was most striking to me was his passion for comics, cartoons and graphic novels: Spiegelman is definitely someone who is working in the right field for him.

We’ve all heard the adage, “A picture’s worth a thousand words” – this was essentially the whole premise of Wordless. Spiegelman presented a history of comics and graphic novels, moving and amusing the audience with his commentary and story-telling, but sometimes just sitting back and letting the pictures speak for themselves.

The combination of caption-less comics with Phillip Johnston’s original scores performed live added a whole other dimension to this presentation. Johnston, when he wasn’t playing, was conducting from his seat. Although the music was supposed to solely complement the cartoons projected onto the screen, helping them to tell their stories, I found myself watching the ensemble more than a few times. They were mesmerising – the musicianship and talent in that small group allowed for so much genre-jumping and flexibility.

The way Johnston’s music encapsulated the essence of each different set of images really drove home the importance of music, filling the space words leave behind.

After the performance, there was an opportunity for audience members to ask Spiegelman and Johnston questions about the performance, facilitated by Ben Marshall, the co-curator of this year’s GRAPHIC Festival. It was clear each questioner was a huge fan and admirer of Spiegelman. While Spiegelman was a tiny bit pretentious, he answered each question with honesty and cleverness. He spoke about the premise behind Wordless, explaining that he aimed to feed the logical sides of the audience’s brains with thought as he talked about the graphic novels and comics he sampled and the history behind them, and then say “Hit it Maestro” and let the other side of the brain take over by watching the images with Johnston’s musical soundtracks.

The rapport between the artist and composer was very clear and I think had a great deal to do with the success of Wordless - Spiegelman and Johnston understand each other, and work seamlessly together.

Spiegelman put it so beautifully at the end of his initial presentation: “Pictures are an Esperanto that can be read beyond language barriers”. It’s true – wordless graphic novels and comics – and instrumental music, for that matter – are truly universal, and I think this is what makes them so incredibly valuable. What’s more, Spiegelman asserted that “wordless stories give shape to thought” – they leave much up to interpretation and imagination, where novels often spell things out for you. Wordless made the audience realise that both mediums – images and music – are so evocative, not just when coupled with words or each other, but in their own right.

Wordless was a stimulating, creative Graphic Festival show and I have no hesitation in saying that each member of the audience would have gotten something out of it. Hopefully we’ll see more collaborations between Spiegelman and Johnston in the future.

Original Article Here

#The AU #the aureview #the au review #BAM #bam opera house #Art Spiegelman's Co-Mix: A Retrospective #art spiegelman #Phillip Johnston #Sydney Opera House #sydney #australia #review #live show #colorado college #university of chicago #performance #musical performance #event #woodcut #graphic novel

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The Leonard Lopate Show

Art Spiegelman at the Jewish Museum and BAM

Art Spiegelman talks about the exhibition “Co-Mix: A Retrospective” at The Jewish Museum, which celebrates his career and work. It's the first U.S. retrospective that spans Spiegelman’s career: from his early days in underground “comix” to the genesis of Maus to his provocative covers for The New Yorker to his artistic collaborations. He also talks about “Wordless” at BAM, an innovative hybrid of slides, talk, and musical performance created in collaboration with acclaimed jazz composer Phillip Johnston. 

Full page HERE

#leonard lopate show #Art Spiegelman's Co-Mix: A Retrospective #art spiegelman #Jewish Museum #wnyc #wnycradiolab #leonard lopate #Nyc #BAM #bam opera house #wordless #Phillip Johnston #radio #interview #talk #musical performance #retrospective