David Mitchell to launch latest novel with a day of interactive art fun
28 April, 2010
by: Spoonfed Arts Team
A day of interactive fun to celebrate the launch of David Mitchell's latest novel, the brilliant Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.
For fans of David Mitchell (that's the twice Booker-shortlisted author, not the dude from Peep Show, you dolt) the news that he's got a new novel out is what we've all been waiting for. After the elaborate, self-conscious brilliance of Cloud Atlas and the narrative simplicity of Black Swan Green, we're pleased to say that Mitchell's latest work – The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet – is almost certainly his best yet.
Set at the time when the Dutch East India Company was beginning to lose its global influence, the novel tells of Dutch clerk Jacob de Zoet and his experiences living on the island of Dejima, a sort of halfway house between mainland Japan – still ruled by the increasingly outdated and brittle Samurais – and the rest of the trading world. Falling somewhere between his last two works, it's complex yet direct, rich, engrossing and really rather exciting.
To mark the book's launch, Sceptre are hosting a day of interactive live art at Candid Gallery with contemporary collective Subject to_change. As Lucy Hayhoe from Subject to_change explains, “Participants will be invited to come along to build a mini Dejima. On arrival, you will select a plot of land and a flat-packed house to turn into your cardboard home. The island will be brought to life over the course of the afternoon and a new community will be created. Meet your neighbours, explore the island, and get to know the world around you.”
Lucy continues: “participants lose the feeling that they are part of an art installation and become immersed in the fiction of their homemade island. Adults are reintroduced to the notion of play. Their experience is not that normally associated with a visit to a theatre or gallery – it's their own to define, and it's lots of fun!”
A day of arty fun-times, inspired by one of the best books in years – what's not to like?
Make Live Art! is at Candid Gallery on Tuesday 4th May, 12pm-5pm. Tickets cost £5 to participate, but watching is free.
Click here to see all London exhibitions.
Click here for things to do in London.
Return to Spoonfed's London Art homepage.
Add an event
Frieze Art Fair to launch new section for young galleries in 2012
Frieze have today announced details for the 2012 edition, their tenth art fair in London. Taking place...