Asemic writing is an umbrella term for all kinds of texts that have no explicit meaning. Be it that the characters used do not exist, or that letters are arranged in a way that cannot be deciphered.
The invention of deliberate illegible writing is sometimes credited to Tim Gaze and Jim Leftwich who coined the term asemic in 1995 for their quasi-calligraphic writing gestures.
They then began to distribute them to poetry magazines both online and in print. The authors explored sub-verbal and sub-letteral forms of writing, and textual asemia as a creative option and as an intentional practice.
However, there were “texts” that defied decoding long before that, for example by Wassily Kandinsky or the Dadaists.
Examples
On the left side you see a card that Gerald sent to the Dutch artist Carien van Hest. On the right is Carien’s reply in the form of a collage with painted and sewn pieces.
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