How can we rethink a dissonance between language and materiality that is as old as Western civilisation itself? Are there ways of articulation and inscription that follow different rules than the symbolic sign-structures of human language? What would such strange alphabets look like?

As part of our ongoing investigation into the parapoetic, Broken Dimanche Press is proud to present Suture - an exhibition and artists book produced in collaboration between poet Morten Søndergaard and artist Åse Eg. 

Suture unfolds as an inquiry into the possibilities of detecting and documenting a different kind of language: a semantic trace deeply engraved in the physical existence of our bodies. The project is an archeological investigation into the etymology of the word ’suture’, exploring the horizon of meanings that inhabit this word.

A suture is the curve that binds the various parts of the skull together. It also refers to the medical stitches that hold together a wound. In geology, a suture represents a collision between two tectonic plates. The seam-like structure of a suture reaches into the world of language via the etymological connection between the words 'textile', 'texture' and the word 'text'.

The suture of the skull is – like a fingerprint – unique to every human. Deep within our bodies we carry our own secret signatures, a para-linguistic testament of some sort, that testifies to our existence in this world a long time after the body has decomposed into inorganic, mineral matter. 

For Suture, Søndergaard has ventured into the catacombs of Paris to photograph, and later transcribe one hundred different sutures, collecting them all in one, single line. These parapoetic 'readymades' form an enigmatic collective story of, and by bodies, disclosing an arcane underground archive of (non-)human inscriptions, another – and quite literal – kind of subconsciousness. 

The scriptures are retrieved from the skull, the very container of human thought, and as such they come to symbolise a 'mattering', a semiotic force deep within the most intimate spaces of being that cannot be reduced to the articulations of a finite, human subject.

The work calls to reflect upon the interconnectedness between 'texture' and 'text', between the non-human fabric of the world, and the various articulations imprinted on this. 

The 'super-suture' will be depicted on the gallery wall and exhibited in the artist book 'Suture' created in collaboration with artist Åse Eg. The exhibition will be accompanied by a sound installation fulfilling Rilke's dream of recovering a primal-sound of the body by playing the human skull as a record. The book will be bound on the spot with a medical thread, tentatively suturing any fracture between language and world.

With the kind support from the Danish Arts Foundation and Grosserer L. F. Foghts Fond

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Morten Søndergaard b. 1964

Morten Søndergaard is one of the foremost of the generation of Danish poets to emerge onto the scene in the early Nineties. Søndergaard’s first collection of poetry, Sahara i mine hænder (Sahara In My Hands) was published in 1992. This debut collection has been followed by a succession of works which have won him both critical acclaim and a number of literary awards. Language is Morten Søndergaard’s medium and his métier, one which he practises not only as a poet, but also as a translator, sound artist and literary editor. And while his craft is solidly rooted in the classic poetic tradition he is constantly intent on exploring the possibilities of language and new ways in which these can be presented. Over the years, alongside his written publications, this has resulted in musical and dramatic works and in recordings, exhibitions and installations centring on language, materiality and sound. Morten Søndergaard has been translated into a large number of languages, and his work 'Wordpharmacy' (Broken Dimanche Press, 2012) has been exhibited all over Europe.

Åse Eg b. 1958

Danish artist and graphic designer based in Copenhagen. For 30 years co-editor on Pist Protta (Danish art-periodical). Practice spans all kinds of printed matter, very fond of paper, colours and books. Most recent artwork: Kompendium 18 (Blad 1 / Leaf 1) and Kompendium 19 (Blad 2 / Leaf 2) collections of leaves from my garden reproduced as photographs (Kompendium 18) and drawings (Kompendium 19) with short texts on the metaphors of leafs connected to books. Graduated from the Danish Design School in 1989. Owner of Åse Eg Aps.