The geometric forms of - Code Poem
, a series initiated by Adam Pendleton in 2009, are adapted from images that appear in poet Hannah Weiner's 1982 book - Code Poems
. In her work, Weiner uses the International Code of Signals—a nautical signal protocol that indexes simple messages to flag semaphores and Morse code sequences—to create encoded visual and verbal compositions. The dash and the dot, Morse code's binary symbols, are arranged on the page in grids, into which Weiner has introduced a third element: the square. This enigmatic, apparently non-signifying element corrupts a number of Weiner's original messages, rendering them indeterminate and abstract.

For his sculptures, Pendleton generates new arrangements of Weiner's three symbols. These arrangements, no longer signifying or communicating according to the terms of any established code, materialize as glazed ceramic shapes, installed on the floor. The - Code Poem
series evidences Pendleton's long-standing engagement with modular systems as well as with language: language treated not so much as a carrier for thoughts or emotions but as a material to be processed, synthesized, modified. In his homage to Weiner he acknowledges the broader influence, in this regard, of the Language poets, a small group of American avant-garde writers who emerged in the 1970s and '80s around the journals - L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E
and - This
, and with whom Weiner is frequently associated. - Untitled (Code Poem Portugal) #1
, #- 2
, and #- 4
are the earliest sculptures in Pendleton's series.

Studio Adam Pendleton