Co-presented with Speculative Place
Bizarre weather. Unprecedented economic disparity. Artists employed by corporations as consultants. And the ultimate work of art: Oval, a pill that increases generosity. New York-based writer Elvia Wilk’s debut novel Oval asks questions of empathy and power on every scale—from bodies to bureaucracies—to create an unsettling portrait of a near-future Berlin. In Oval, protagonists Anja and Louis are offered a rent-free home on an artificial mountain—yet another eco-friendly initiative run by a corporation. They seize the opportunity, but it isn’t long before the experimental house begins malfunctioning. An experimental novel that examines the relationship between real estate, sustainability, and artmaking, Oval is a fascinating portrait of the unbalanced relationships that shape our world, as well as a prescient warning of what the future may hold.
Join us for the Asia debut of Oval at Tai Kwun Contemporary’s Artists’ Book Library. Wilk will read from the novel and then have a conversation with Tiffany Sia of Speculative Place, followed by an audience discussion.
Rendering visual: Courtesy of Mila Architects
Elvia Wilk is a writer and editor living in New York. She writes for publications like Frieze, Mousse, Metropolis, The White Review, Granta, and Artforum and is currently a contributing editor at e-flux journal. Her first novel, Oval, was published in June 2019 by Soft Skull Press. Wilk will be in residence at Speculative Place on Lamma Island, working on a collection of essays surrounding ecology, mysticism, and weirdness.
Tiffany Sia is a film producer, writer and founder of Speculative Place. She is the author of Salty Wet, a chapbook series published by Inpatient Press, and the executive producer of Adam Khalil and Bayley Sweitzer’s science-fiction political thriller, Empty Metal.
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Speculative Place is an experimental and independent project space in Hong Kong hosting residents working on film, writing and art that provides a space for collaboration and exchange, connecting a geographically dispersed community of new voices.
