Momus (Nick Currie)

2011

Book, 17.7 cm x 11.2 cm, 192 p, language: English, publisher: Berlin: Sternberg Press, ISBN: 9781934105245.
Materials: ink, paper

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”.

Novel's website