Unlawful Assembly
2014
Book, 18 x 11 cm, 125 p, language: English, publisher: Koenig Books, London, ISBN : 9783863354909.
Materials: Ink, paper
Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. B 2026/275).
Literary synopsis
The Unlawful Assembly cast of characters are united by narcissism, ineffectuality and paranoia, and like fast food's ratio of fat, salt and sugar to protein, these stories confront pathology in a similarly consumable (and cynical) package of calibrated sex, violence and humour.
Relation of the novel to the artist’s practice
Unlawful Assembly is a fictional piece by Lucy McKenzie & Alan Michael as part of Volcano Extravaganza – a series of events, performances, conferences and exhibitions curated by Lucy McKenzie at the Fiorucci Art Trust, taking place at Stromboli from July-August 2013. Devised as a way to indulge in their interest in literature and explore the parallels between systematic painting and formulaic writing, the artists Lucy McKenzie and Alan Michael present Unlawful Assembly. First published in private limited edition it was intended as a cheap holiday read to titillate and entertain summer visitors to the Mediterranean island of Stromboli, and as a piece of site-specific work; the location of the action and the place in which it is read being the same.
Lucy McKenzie and Alan Michael have familiarised themselves with the methodologies of illusionistic painting, trompe l'oeil and photorealism respectively. The visual art subsequently generated by Unlawful Assembly includes work by Josephine Pryde, with whom the artists collaborated to produce this second edition's cover image.
Authorship: Collective Authorship.
Creative Strategy: Artwork-Novel Parallel Lives.
Genre: Detectives.
Publishing: Art Books Publishing House.
