The Middle of Nowhere
2005-2013
Book, dimensions, page nr and ISBN: N/A, language: English, publisher: dotdotdot magazine (NYC), Onomatopee (Eindhoven), among others; This project is still under development.
Materials:
Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. B 2026/598).
Literary synopsis
Will Holder has been writing and publishing since 2005 a novel called The Middle of Nowhere –an adaptation of William Morris’ News from Nowhere, of 1890. Morris’ original novel, a description of a 2004 society, rooted in Victorian Socialist ideologies. Holder’s The Middle of Nowhere also set approximately 115 years in the future, follows the original’s chapter structure, whilst taking significant phenomena into account of which Morris had no knowledge. Central to the original, the chapter Questions and Answers, is a discussion between the visiting protagonist and a historian, who recounts the history of the previous 130 years. In The Middle of Nowhere, the historian will recount the history of the 21st century.
Relation of the novel to the artist’s practice
The book has been described as “a guide for design education and practice set in 2135” and is published in a serialized form in dotdotdot magazine and carious writing commissions. In response to commissions, the writing is externally determined and steered, “piecemeal”, by the context of each publication in has appeared in. It is an account of how an adaptive, self-conscious and collective voice is formed that could represent a history.
Authorship: Artist Author.
Creative Strategy: Novel Art Object, Rewriting Existing Novel.
Genre: Fantasy, Historical fiction, Science-Fiction.
Publishing: Art Gallery, Magazine Publisher, Non-profit Art Organization, Self-Publishing.
Theme: Socio-Political Critic, Time Travel, Utopian Worlds.
