Available for 21 days only, my debut book was created as part of an EMAP/EMARE artist residency at Bandits-Mages, Bourges, further supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
The novella-length narrative starred time-travelling record producer Harley Byrne, whose ongoing mission is to capture and make available for download “all the world’s music, ever.”
While working on his escape from slavery in the reverb mines of 32nd-century Detroit, Byrne is tipped off to the existence of a form of ‘rogue sim electroacoustic pop’ created by a pair of sentient statues in 22nd-century Bourges.
But when he arrives in the historical city, he discovers it to be an ontologically dubious virtual heritage site, overrun with corrupt holograms, cyborg saints, and the occasional native telling fisherman’s tales from deep VR.
The limited edition book also contained a photographic project – A New Ontology of Hallucination – and my studio log from the residency.
G. John Cole 