M HKA Ensembles

Book, 20.8 x 14.7 cm, 175 p, language : English, publisher : Furies Publishing Inc. (Diversions Publishing).

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. B 2026/330).

Literary synopsis

The novelization of the movie Rocky II is retyped with the left hand only. All errors made due to inexperience are left uncorrected as traces. Fandom and fan fiction are not far removed. A book genre that is already dubbed bastard is further devaluated into unprofessional territory. The faulty grammar and spelling are blatantly clear. It is an incompetent lamination of an already inept book. Advocating amateurism, it proposes new paradigms for reading. Being unskilled at something but still doing it, not for reasons of improvement, but for the more vague intention of producing possibilities by an active and productive consuming.

Relation of the novel to the artist’s practice

As part of his artistic practice, Peter Lemmens has been publishing small press editions. Most of them are distributed for free during exhibitions. They are very limited, ranging from one to twenty numbered and signed copies. These publications often relate to editing techniques and fan fiction, focusing on possibilities of DIY and forcing different readings. Peter Lemmens sees amateurism as a productive mode. Fan fiction can be seen as a complex system of inspiration that cannot always be easily discarded as awful. It simply demands a different set of parameters to read it, a system slightly apart from regular fiction. It's a fringe genre that often follows a preset, default canon and thus necessarily draws on alternative merits and assessments. Like this, it moves along the lines of B-movies, straight-to-video and horror cult films of the seventies and eighties. These often seek out alternative distribution formats, finding their way to a segmented public, away from mainstream reviews and releases.

Novel's website