Thrilled to have attended my first literary event of the fall, which will undoubtedly remain one of its absolute highlights. A first in many respects, Voidopolis (a MIT Press Leonardo Series release longlisted for the 2023 Lumen Prize), the literary debut of Romanian-American playwright & artist Kat Mustatea, is a one-of-a-kind book born online in the days of the pandemic: a hybrid digital photography & literature project, it retells Dante’s Inferno as if it were set in Covid-ravaged New York City.
An augmented reality book making use of the most recent technological developments, Voidopolis is a peculiar artistic object that self-destructs. Its pages can only be deciphered through an adjacent AR app and, as time passes, its digital components decay in the same way that memories fade and eventually disappear, leaving behind blurry images and disparate words.
But in the realm of cutting edge technology redemption is not only possible, it’s guaranteed. Unlike the human brain, after a year the system resets and the whole process starts over. Its 12-month-long cycle of disintegration began on September 21st, the very day the book was sent into the world with a lively party hosted by ICP – International Center of Photography.
CEVA LA MIJLOC 