Proposed Exhibit

The images above conceptualize a museum exhibit in which The Art of the Death could be made accessible for public viewing. Although the book was created in hours of intense privacy, and the book-object can only be read by one person at a time, its purpose was always to be viewed, experienced, and performed in a public space. In this conceptualized exhibit, each erased page is matted, framed, and mounted chronologically throughout the gallery. The construction of additional half-walls creates alcoves to elongate and complicate the narrative experience of reading, as well as introduce ideas of claustrophobia, endlessness, and recursivity. Certain pages, for example those containing relevant milestones in death count, or significant lyric fragments, will be enlarged and screenprinted for emphasis. The exhibit also contains a display table with process materials, and an interactive table including reproductions of pages from the original text, which viewers can erase in an ongoing attempt to confront and alter the original text. The Art of the Death as a museum exhibit creates a curated space for the book to perform itself, and for the reader to become a participant.