In 2020, while sifting through a box in my father’s studio, I came across the film work To Ray the Rays. It was mentioned on an invitation flyer for the French artist Henri Chopin's solo exhibition, Revue OU, at Galerie J & J Donguy in Paris in 1987. Listing three audio poem films and – to my surprise – my father’s name:

3 films audio-poetiques de Henri Chopin: Pêche de nuit co-auteurs Luc Peire & Tjerk Wicky / L’Energie du Sommeil co-auteurs Serge Beguier & Gianni Bertini / To Ray the Rays co-auteur Erik Vonna-Michell

Chopin (1922-2008) was an artist, poet, novelist, concrete poet, sound poet, playwright, critic, radio producer and publisher. In 1958, Chopin started Cinquième Saison, a literary review journal, publishing contemporary French poets. By 1964, it had evolved into Revue OU. Chopin claimed that Cinquième Saison served as a confrontation between more traditionally formal poets and experimental poets. This editorial clash possibly laid the groundwork for Revue OU, which he described as a review-disc and could be seen as a magazine in a box-set edition. A packaged collection of recorded sound poetry (often on 10-inch vinyl), multiples, texts, prints and flat-packed sculptures by the international avant- garde, and often consisting of original contributions. A joint endeavour with his wife, Jean Chopin (maiden name Ratcliffe), Revue OU was an intensely collaborative and far-reaching publishing project up until its last i...