The Book of Japans, 2011
Book, 17.7 cm x 11.2 cm, 192 p, language: English, publisher: Berlin: Sternberg Press, ISBN: 9781934105245.
©image: M HKA
Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. B 2025/539).
Literary synopsis
A sustained speculative fiction envisioning possible future Japans, avoiding at all costs the "wooden tongue" of official discourse. On the Shetland Isles, twelve idiots who claim to have visited the future of Japan are questioned by twelve experts skeptical of their claims, but impressed by the fact that the idiots have successfully predicted the date of a major earthquake in Tokyo. By the end it's unclear who is "expert" and who is "idiot".
Relation of the novel to the artist’s practice
Momu’s work is concerned with making up, telling and re-telling stories. His work is "postproduction" in Nicolas Bourriaud's sense; it remakes existing narratives –in this case, jokes. He is “drawn to short forms”.
Authorship: Artist Author.
Creative Strategy: No Link to Artworks.
Genre: Science-Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Travelogue.
Publishing: Art Books Publishing House.
Theme: Japanese Culture, Utopian Worlds.
Artist
> Momus (Nick Currie) .
Exhibitions & Ensembles
> Exhibition: Book Lovers 4.0 (Pop-up Bookstore). De Appel Arts Centre, Amsterdam, 28 January 2014 - 02 February 2014.
> Exhibition: The Preparation of the Novel (Book Lovers 5.0). Fabra i Coats - Centre d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, 18 July 2014 - 05 September 2014.
> Ensemble: The Artist's Novel.
Related Items
>Momus (Nick Currie) , The Book of Scotlands, 2009.Book, ink, paper, 17.7 cm x 11.2 cm, 160 p, language: English, publisher: Berlin: Sternberg Press, ISBN: 9781933128559.