M HKA Ensembles

Book, 19.7 cm x 12.8 cm, 190 p, language: English, Published by Artangel, London, ISBN 1 902201 27 2.

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. B 2025/868).

Literary synopsis

We meet a large cast of characters including a man named Edward George, whose father had been a liberated slave in Zanzibar who may have known George Edwards. If I sound doubtful, it is because the story grows ever more convoluted, and by now I didn’t trust Seer, who, to say the least, is not a reliable narrator. There is a lot of flimflam about twins and aliens, and about death, destiny and memory. But as all of this rushes past, you begin to realise that what did or did not happen to Uncle George is beside the point. What matters is that someone went in search of him, and in doing so caused him to live again in memory. And, Seers concludes, it is in memory that we come to know who we are. How do we find a meaning in our lives? Where do we start to search for it?

- Richard Dorment

Relation of the novel to the artist’s practice

This novel by Hagen charts the journey of the installation in London of Nowhere Less Now from the author’s (Hagen's) perspective. The long established tradition of the novel and its relationship to film was the impetus for this book. Sometimes a film is based on a novel and sometimes a novel is based on a film - this order of events seems to matter. It is not necessary to do your 'homework' and read this novel - it doesn't explain the film as such - its importance is that it did not come before or after the film, it was written during the whole evolution of the work - so Hagen's writing influenced Seers and Seers' actions influenced Hagen's writing - they circumscribe each other. Ideally months or even years later the owner will pick up this free novel given with the exhibition and the work will be reactivated and reformed in the memory in a different way.

Novel's website