Vortices

Novella, English-language, 96 pages, 2016
Risograph print, b&w with colour cover
Limited numbered edition of 100

The protagonist of Vortices is a participant in an extreme sleep experiment that forms part of preparations for the first manned mission to Mars. Living in the dark of a cave for several weeks without access to either daylight or clocks, the underground space starts to open up to him as a gateway into a confounding labyrinth, populated by arcane figures and apparently god-like beings. A novel-as-artwork, Vortices utilises science- and weird-fiction tropes to approach ongoing post-colonial critique of the Western ethnological Museum, synthesising a narrative out of artistic research into space exploration, colonialism, religious fetish objects, a real sleep experiment from the 1960s, Surrealism, and accounts of out-of-body experiences. This book would be of special interest to both fans of H.P. Lovecraft and to anyone critically interested in the space of the Museum.