In 1965 John Giorno founded "Giorno Poetry Systems" (GPS), a US poetry collective that set out
to reach wider audiences through innovative uses of communications media. In 1968, inspired by a phone call to William Burroughs, Giorno formed an initiative called "Dial-A-Poem." This provided easy and direct access for Americans to a counter-cultural poetic movement. Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Ted Berrigan and Frank O'Hara were among the poets involved in the Dial-A-Poem Poets project. (listen to some of the Dial-A-Poem poets at Ubuweb).

London Poetry Systems shares Giorno's desire to reach new audiences by using the new media available to us. We provide a live stage and online space for artists to explore new cross-media and digital poetic forms. It is important to us that audiences can experience these experiments and witness the new forms as they emerge. Too often we, the audiences, meet with poetry later in its development, after it has its critical seal of approval. Through the "hands on" experience of the rougher cuts of poetry we think audiences can get closer to it, to 'know' instead of 'understand'. Poems are finished by the audience, not the poet. This is why we work so hard to make the performance space right for both the audience and the artist.

The Systems is an open collective, so each night has a different team working on it. But there are three elements that help to build the unique Systems atmosphere:

Henry Stead

poet, translator and PhD student working for Open University and Oxford University. "My research is in the reception of classical poetry in the Romantic era. I'm a co-founder and director of LPS."

Jef Oswald

DJ and producer of experimental electronic music. Sound specialist of LPS and responsible for the construction of the audio collages behind some of Henry Stead's pieces. Also 1/3 of Methlab, a platform for electronic audio and visual alchemy.

Guy Bingley

VJ and writer in
London. "I write a blog
called 'think demux' and
have been the visuals specialist
for the Systems
from the start."

Education
We have been lucky enough to work with some of the most exciting poets in Britain, and will continue to do so. Among these, for sure, number the school children we have helped create multimedia poems in our workshops and encouraged to perform in the 'Systems-style' educational events we put together. It is amazing how quickly children take to these cross-media forms. It has to be their natural medium, the new page.