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Work in Progress

By Rieke Jordan

Work in Progress

By Rieke Jordan

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Description
Work in Progress: Curatorial Labor in Twenty-First Century American Fictioninterrogates contemporary texts that showcase forms of reading practices that feel anachronistic and laborious in times of instantaneity and short buffering times. Objects of analysis include the graphic narrative Building Storiesby Chris Ware, the music album Song Reader by the indie rock artist Beck Hansen, and the computer game Kentucky Route Zero by the programming team Cardboard Computer. These texts stage their fragmentary nature and alleged "unfinishedness" as a quintessential part of both their narrative and material modus operandi.
These works in and of progress feel both contemporary and retro in the 21st century. They draw upon and work against our expectations of interactive art in the digital age, incorporating and likewise rejecting digital forms and practices. This underlines the material and narrative flexibilities of the objects, for no outcome or reading experience is the same or can be replicated. It becomes apparent that the texts presuppose a reader who invests her spare time in figuring these texts out, diagnosing a contorted work-leisure dichotomy: "working these stories out" is a significant part of the reading experience for the reader-curatorial labor. This conjures up a reader, who, as the author argues, is turned into a curator and creative entity of and in these texts, for she implements and reassembles the options made available.
Product details
Binding:
Paperback
Number of Pages:
218
Release Date:
2021-01-28
Publication Date:
2020-12-24
Publisher:
Bloomsbury 3PL
Languages:
Original: English
ISBN10:
1501375458
ISBN13:
9781501375453
GPSR Manufacturer Reference:
[email protected]
Weight:
281 g
Height:
140 cm
Width:
216 cm
Thickness:
12 cm
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