Joanne Collins

Vocal Performance

A tribute to and an art performance of Kurt Schwitters' abstract poem "Merz 24", more commonly known as the Ursonata. Inspired by Raoul Hausmann's earliest phonetic poem "Rfmsbwe" written in 1918, it consists of 4 movements, each verbally displaying and phonetically undoing, manipulating, and recombining letters, syllables, and systems from the German alphabet with an emphasis on pronunciation and intonation - out of which rhythm forms.