Espace de la page, espace de la performance : la poésie action de Bernard Heidsieck

Abstract

This article aims to shed light on the specificity of Bernard Heidsieck’s poetry, in particular to clarify the relationship between the three modes of his poetry : writing, sound recording and performance. The article first deals with two modes of perception – optical and acoustic – in his three series of poems – Poemes-partitions, Biopsies and Passe-partout. Heidsieck tries to highlight a gap between these two modes of perception, using two versions – visual poems and sound poems. But it should not be ignored that Heidsieck prefers to call his poetry “action poetry” because it requires another poetic mode: performance. Heidsieck’s performance consists in “catapulting” poetry into society: by emancipating it from the yoke of the page, it “catapults” poetry into a relationship between the listeners and the reader. Society is the place where they communicate, and poetry, which is part and parcel of it, comes out of the surface of the page and becomes a “standing poetry”.