1 Reworked and expanded version of a talk given on the occasion of the Ninth Bundestreffens des Forums Typographie (Ninth Federal Conference of the Typography Forum) in 1992 in the Fine Arts College in Hamburg, published in Sprache wird Bild (Language Becomes Picture), documentation published by Forum Typographie, AK Hamburg, Mainz o. J., pp.131 ff.

2 See Klaus Peter Dencker, Über die wechselseitige Befreiung der Künste. zum Medieneinfluss und zur Veränderung des Kunstbegriffs auf dem Weg ins 20. Jahrhundert" (On the Manifold Liberation of the Arts: On the Media Influence and on the Accompanying Change of Art Terminology in the Twentieth Century," in Sprache im technischen Zeitalter (Language in the Technical Age), 1989. H. 110, pp. 151-70.

3 Florian Rötzer, "Für eine Äesthetik der elektronischen und digitalen Medien" (For an Aesthetics of the Electronic and Digital Media), in Jahresbericht/Siemens Kulturprogramm (Annual Report/Siemens Cultural Program), Munich, 1991, p.41.

4 Karel Teige, "Poetismus" (Poetism), in Tschechische Avantgarde 1922-1940 (Czech Avant-Garde 1922-1940), catalogue, Kunstverein Hamburg, 1990, p. 174.

5 On the change of the communications systems, see the Afterwords of the publisher, Klaus Peter Dencker, in INTERFACE 1. Elektronische Medien und künstlerische Kreativität, Hamburg (INTERFACE 1: Electronic Media and Artistic Creativity), 1992, pp. 184 ff.; INTERFACE 2. Weltbilder/ Bildwelten. Computergestütze Visionen, (INTERFACE 2: Worldpicture/ Pictureworld: Computer-Supported Visions), Hamburg, 1995, pp. 39 ff.; and INTERFACE 3. Labile Ordnungen, (INTERFACE 3: Unstable Orders), Hamburg, 1997, pp. 316 ff.

6 Klaus Peter Dencker, "Ein Buch is ein Buch . . ." (A Book Is a Book . . .), in Wolfgang Nieblich, Buchskulpturen (Book Sculptures), Gütersloh, 1991, pp. 3 ff.

7 Egon Friedell, Ecca Poeta, Berlin, 1912, pp. 250 ff.; see also the futurist manifestoes in Umbro Apollonio, Der Futurismus (Futurism), Cologne, 1972, p. 128.

8 Walter Benjamin, "Vereidigter Bücherrevisor" (Dear Book Reviewer), in Gesammelte Schriften (Collected Works), Vol. IV/I, Frankfurt am Mainz: Tillman Rexroth, 1972, p. 102; see also Frank Schüre, "Am Ende der Bücherwelte" (At the End of the Book World), in Die Zeit, Jan. 8, 1993, 32; Theo Sommer, "Geht das Zeitalter Gutenbergs zu Ende?" (Is the Gutenberg Era Finishing?), in Medien und Kultur (Media and Culture), Göttingen: Werner Faulstich, 1991, pp. 95-100; Michael Zetzel, Die Enden des Buches oder die Wiederkehr der Schrift (The Ends of the Book or the Return of Writing), Wennheim, 1991, esp. pp. XI ff.

9 Bertolt Brecht, Gesammelte Werke (Collected Works), Vol. 18. Schriften zur Literatur und Kunst I (Writings on Literature and Art I), Frankfurt am Mainz, 1967, p. 156.

10 Raymond Queneau, "Gelesen für eine Front" (Reading for a Front), in Striche, Zeichen und Buchstaben (Strokes, Signs, and Letters), Munich, 1990, p. 105.

11 Helmut Heissenbüttel, Über Literatur. Aufsätze (On Literature: Essays), Olten, 1966, p. 77.

12 In this series of proofs I would like to place the three contributions of El Lissitzky, "Topographie der Typographie" (Topography of Typography), from Merz Heft, No. 4, 1923; "Typographische Tatsachen" (Typographic Deeds), from the 1925 Gutenberg festschrift; and "Unser Buch" (Our Book), from the 1926/27 Gutenberg Annual, printed in Sophie Lissitzky-Küppers, ed., El Lissitzky. Maler - Architekt - Typograf - Fotograf. Errinerungen - Briefe - Schriften (El Lissitzky: Painter, Architect, Typographer, Photographer: Memories, Letters, Writings), Dresden, 1976, pp. 360 ff.

13 Karel Teige, pp. 172 ff. On the term "picture poem," see also G. III, June, 1924, pp. 33, 38, rpt. Marion von Hofacker, ed., Munich, 1986.

14 Cited in Vom Klang der Bilder. Die Musik in der Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts (On the Sound of Pictures: Music in Twentieth-Century Art), Karin von Maur, ed., Munich, 1985, p. 82.

15 Cited in Hans Richter, Dada-Kunst und Antikunst (Dada: Art and Antiart), Cologne: Publisher ????, 1964, p. 40.

16 Heinrich Wölfflin, Aufsätze. Das Erklären von Kunstwerken (Essays: Clarifying Artworks), Stuttgart: Publisher ???, 1961, p. 56. The increasing visualization is covered by Klaus Brepohl, Die Massenmedien (The Mass Meida), Munich: Publisher ????, 1974, pp. 58 ff.

17 Printed in Anton Kaes, ed., Kino-Debatte. Texte zum Verhältnis von Literature und Film 1909-1922 (Cinema Debate: Texts on the Relation of Literature and Film 1909-1922), Tübingen: Publisher ????, 1978, p. 41.

18 T. I. Cobden-Sanderson, Das Idealbuch oder Das schöne Buch. Eine Abhandlung über Kalligraphie, Druck and Illustration und über das Schöne Buch als ein Ganzes (The Ideal Book, or the Beautiful Book: A Treatment of Calligraphy, Printing, and Illustration, and on the Beautiful Book as a Whole), Berlin: Publisher ????, 1921.

19 S. Fischer, "Bemerkungen zur Bücherkrise" (Observations on the Book Crisis), in Die literarische Welt (Literary World), Oct. 22, 1926, 1 ff.; rpt. Die Kino-Debatte (Cinema Debate), p. 16.

20 Handed down through Plutarch, De gloria Ath. VIII, 15; reference to further examples in Alfred Liede, Dichtung als Spiel (Poetry as Game), Vol. I, Berlin: Publisher ????, 1963, as well as in Hugo Ball, Flucht der Zeit (Flight of Time), Munich: Publisher ????, 1927, p. 93: "Word and picture are one. Painter and poet belong together. Christ is picture and word. The word and the picture are crossed" (Liede, p. 270). A very interesting single representation is found in Felix von Ingold: "Bildkunst und Wortkunst bei Kazimir Malevic" (Picture Art and Word Art in Kasimir Malevic), in Delfin, H. 2, 988, pp. 50 ff.

21 Novalis, Gesammelte Werke (Collected Works), Hildburg and Werner Kohlschmidt, eds., Gütersloh: Publisher ????, 1967, p. 459, Nr. 49.

22 Klaus Peter Dencker, Textbilder - Visuelle Poesie International von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart (Text Pictures: International Visual Poetry from Ancient Times to the Present), Cologne: Publisher ????, 1972, p. 41; see also Text und Bild. Aspekte des Zusammenwirkens zweier Künste im Mittelalter und früher Neuzeit (Text and Picture: Aspects of the Interrelations between Two Arts in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period), Christel Meier and Uwe Ruberg, eds., Wiesbaden: Publisher ????, 1980.

23 Klaus Peter Dencker, "Visuelle Poesie und Film" (Visual Poetry and Film), in Lund Art Press, Vol. 2, No. 3, Lund, 1992, 159 ff.

24 There are only a few good representations that deal with the history of picture texts. In many respects, the most interesting is still Massin, La Lettre et l'Image (The Letter and the Image), Paris: Publisher ????, 1993 (first ed. 1970, dt. Massin, Buchstabenbilder und Bildalphabete (Letter Pictures and Picture Alphabets), Ravensburg: Publisher ????, 1970). Then, for the area of figure poems, Jeremy Adler, Ulrich Ernst, Text als Figure. Visuelle Poesie von der Antike biz zur Moderne (Text as Figure: Visual Poetry from Ancient Times to the Modern Period), Wolfenbüttel: Publisher ????, 1987.

25 Ernest Fenollosa, "The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry," in K. Shapiro, ed., Prose Keys to Modern Poetry, Evanston, New York: Publisher ????, 1962, pp. 136 ff.; see also Udo Kultermann, "Wo es weder Westen noch Osten gibt. Ernest Fenollosas Bedeutung für die Kulturentwicklung der Moderne" (Neither West nor East: Ernest Fenollosa's Meaning for the Cultural Development of the Modern), in Merkur, H. 12, 1993, 1101 ff.

26 This is no plea against concrete poetry. On the contrary, without concrete poetry the current forms of visual poetry would be unthinkable! It is the attempt to describe two different literary forms with different (and in few points similar) programs, as I have already attempted several times, in Mitteilungen des Instituts für moderne Kunst (Communications fromt he Institute of Modern Art), H. 5, Nurenberg: Publisher ????, 1975; Tecken. Austellungskatalog (Techen: Exhibition Catalogue), Konsthalle Malmö: Publisher ????, 1978; Sprachen jenseits von Dichtung. Ausstellungskatalog (Languages beyond Poetry: Exhibition Catalogue), Münster: Westfälischer Kunstverein, 1979; Am Anfang war das Wort (In the Beginning Was the Word), exhibition catalogue, Lüdenscheid: Städtische Galerie Lüdenscheid, 1984; Visuelle Poesie (Visual Poetry), catalogue book, Saarbrücken/ Dillingen: Saarländischer Runkfunk, 1984; and in the articles "Konkrete Poesie" (Concrete Poetry), in Walther Killy, ed., Literaturlexikon (Dictionary of Literature), Vol. 13, Munich, 1992; and Horst Brunner and Rainer Moritz, eds., Literaturwissenschaftliches Lexikon (Dictionary of Literary Science), Berlin: Publisher ????, 1997.

27 See Klaus Peter Dencker, "Zu den Wortköpfen" (On Word Heads), in Eugen Gomringer, ed., Visuelle Poesie (Visual Poetry), Stuttgard: Publisher ????, 1996, pp. 62 ff. and the introduction by Christina Weiss in Klaus Peter Dencker, Wortköpfe. Visuelle Poesie 1961-1991 (Word Heads: Visual Poetry 1961-1991), Siegen: Publisher ????, 1991, pp. 2 ff. (= experimental texts no. 26-28), as well as Klaus Peter Dencker, ed., Visuelle Poesie aus Japan (Japanese Visual Poetry), Hamburg: Publisher ????, 1997, pp. 123 ff.

28 Vilém Flusser, "Hat Schreiben Zukunft?" (Does Writing Have a Future?), in Spuren 10, (Mar.-Apr., 1985), 25, Hamburg HfbK.

29 Michael Wetzel, Die Ende des Buches oder die Wiederkehr der Schrift (The Ends of the Book or the Return of Writing), esp. pp. XI ff.

30 Herbert Marshall McLuhan, Die magischen Kanäle. Understanding Media, Düsseldorf: Publisher ????, 1992, pp. 100 ff.

31 Klaus Peter Dencker, "Der zweite Tod des Theaters? Mit der Elektronik zurück in die Zukunft" (The Second Death of the Theater? With Electronics Back to the Future), talk given May 9, 1989, at the New Year's conference of INTHEGA in Nienburg-Weser; rpt. in INTHEGA Kultur Journal, H. 2, 1989, pp. 12 ff.

32 See Klaus Peter Dencker, "Wider die Angst vor den Medien. Eine Entgegnung auf Jürgen Mittelstrass' Theses über Medien und Verantwortung" (Against Media Anxiety: An Encounter with Jürgen Mittestrass's Theses on the Media and Responsibility), Jürgen Mittelstrass, "Informationsriesen und Wissenszwerge zugleich. Über Medien und Verantwortung" (Information Giants and Yet Knowledge Dwarves: On the Media and Responsibility), in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Jan. 24, 1992, 71), in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, July 24, 1992, 47.

33 Klaus Bartels, "Das Verschwinden der Fiktion. Über das Altern der Literatur durch den Medienwechsel im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert" (The Disappearance of Fiction: On the Age of Literature through the Media Changes of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries), in Ansichten einer künftigen Medienwissenschaft (Views of a Future Science of the Media), Rainer Bohn, et al, eds., Berlin: Publisher ????, 1988, pp. 239-56.

34 Paul Virilio, "Achtung, Augen auf!" (Attention: Look Out!), in Medienkunstpreis 1992 ( ZKM Karlsruhe, ed., Karlsruhe: Publisher ????, 1992, pp. 44 ff.

35 Fred Forest, "Die Äesthetik der Kommunikation" (The Aesthetics of Communication), in Florian Rötzer, ed., Digitaler Schein (Digital Appearance), Frankfurt am Mainz: Publisher ????, 1991, pp. 325 ff.

36 Paul Virilio, Die Sehmaschine (The Seeing Machine), Berlin: Publisher ????, 1989. (= Merve Vol. 149).

37 See Klaus Bartels, p. 253.

38 Klaus Brepohl, p. 58, and Volker Panzer, "Ohne Worte is das Fernsehen nichts. Diesseits und jenseits der Literatur. Verdrängen andere Medien das Buch?" (Without Words Television Is Nothing: On This Side of Literature and Beyond: Are Other Media Pressuring the Book?) in Publizistik & Kunst (Publicity and Art), H.9, 1993, pp. 8-12.

39 Bartels, p. 253.

40 Dencker, "INTERFACE 3," pp. 316 ff.

41 Enno Kaufhold, Bilder des Übergangs zur Mediengeschichte von Fotographie und Malerei in Deutschland um 1900 (Pictures of the Transition from Photography and Painting to Media Narratives in Germany around 1900), Marburg: Publisher ????, 1986, p. 161; "The picture has become a shorthand for language. Where the word breaks down, the picture still makes possible an understanding."