asemic

Asemic writing is a form of artistic expression in which text is used as image rather than as language with semantic content. Asemic text resembles ordinary writing—letters, characters, and spacing—but its signs are not intended to be read as words or sentences. The resulting works convey mood, rhythm, or gesture and invite readers to experience the texture of writing without decipherable meaning.

Its form ranges from delicate calligraphy and stylized glyphs to abstract marks and cropped fragments of scripts. Asemic works can be drawn, painted, printed, or collaged; they may form complete pages or appear as embedded elements within broader artworks. The practice overlaps with visual poetry, graphic art, and calligraphy, and often foregrounds the materiality of letters such as line, shape, and color.

Historically, asemic writing emerged from modernist and avant-garde explorations of language and image and has been developed in postwar poetry and contemporary art. While not a language in the traditional sense, asemic text has a readership that engages with it as textual art, permitting varied interpretations and experiential emphasis rather than fixed semantics. It is commonly found in artist books, galleries, zines, and online networks.

Related topics include visual poetry, invented language, script, and calligraphy. Asemic writing continues to be produced across media and contexts, emphasizing form and perception over explicit linguistic content.