Multimodal writing: the avant-garde assemblage and other minimal texts

ABSTRACT

Taking multilingual, minimal urban texts as objects of its analysis, this paper suggests that language(s) (writing) need(s) to be examined as part of multimodal ensembles (Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal discourse: The modes and media of contemporary communication. Arnold). I examine and draw parallels between greeting cards, advertisements, corporate signage and developments in twentieth century avant-garde art, when artists incorporated language (writing) into their assemblages. The data is then linked to the framework of metrolingualism (Otsuji, E., & Pennycook, A. (2010). Metrolingualism: Fixity, fluidity and language in flux. International Journal of Multilingualism, 7(3), 240–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790710903414331).

KEYWORDS:

• Multimodality
• writing
• minimal texts
• avant-garde assemblage
• text-based art
• metrolingualism

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Jenn Gresham, Corey Fanglei Huang, Rema Devi, Ania Hryniewiecka, TK Lee, Chris Hutton, David Karlander, Sebastian Knospe, Crispin Thurlow, ‘Simon’ and ‘Doreen’, Kellie Gonçalves, Kristin Vold Lexander, Haley De Korne, and two anonymous reviewers. Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders before publication. All caveats apply.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research for this paper was supported by an HKSAR Government Funded Research Project (GRF) 2016–2020 titled ‘Word as Image: The Sociolinguistics of Art’ (RGC Ref. № 17600415).