David Shrigley's Pulped Fiction

In 2017, a charity bookshop in Swansea, UK made headline news as a result of exhibiting several hundred copies of Dan Brown's 2003 novel 'The Da Vinci Code' in its window with a sign requesting that no more copies of the book be donated as they had more than they could sell.
'Pulped Fiction' is a project by visual artist David Shrigley, who has produced a limited run of 1,250 copies of George Orwell's dystopian novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' made entirely from the pulped remains of unwanted copies of 'The Da Vinci Code'.
In 2023, Pulped Fiction was launched at the very charity shop in Swansea that started it all. 250 copies were available to buy at an exclusive price. After selling out within the first hour, and making headline news, the remaining copies are now available to buy.
Throughout the journey David and his studio team were documented by filmmaker Jay Bartlett. Telling the story of how the project came to be and the numerous hurdles faced along the way, the documentary can now be seen online for the first time here.
pulpedfiction.davidshrigley.com

[@davidpoe9337]

Thank you

[@alis_books-24]

I worked in a bookshop when The Da Vinci Code was out in mass market paperback and now I work in copyright, so this whole story is a delight from start to finish 😊

[@Michael62nyc]

Brilliant

[@okChrisMac]

Should have turned them into one humongous municipal copy of the davinci code imo. Put some swings there too in its shade, maybe a duck pond

[@bethstratton3391]

I love David Shrigleys art. However, to me this seemed like a pet project done purely for the sake of doing it. Which I suppose could be said of a lot of art projects, and there is nothing wrong with doing things purely to satisfy some internal thought process or artistic need/curiosity. I suppose judging the value of one book over another is the same as judging one art project or piece over another. I’m not really sure what the point of this project is, other than to appreciate artisan crafts people, the processes of making art; and to examine what value we actually place on things like literature or physical copies of text as a society. It also offers an insight into how we consider quality over quantity, longevity over transience; and high brow over low brow art/literature etc. Also, this project did make me consider the reality of just how many people have read the DaVinci code versus 1984. I mean 1984 has been around longer and was a standard text in most modern schools so it was read by many because it was required reading, whereas the DaVinci was sold via word of mouth and was considered a fun throw away summer read. Both were controversial books in their time that sort to be disruptive talking points to certain sections of society, so it seems in some ways they are both interchangeable, as the physical reality of this project demonstrates. Which is an interesting point to consider in itself.

[@vandolmatzis8146]

Art is a leap of faith into the unknown,Check out Yves Klein...love this guy.

[@oli7457]

A little trite but I can’t be mad at art where’s someone’s basically bumbling around to see what happens, and we get to follow along with someone else’s hyperfixation. I also can’t be mad at the semi-industrial bespoke product - a good model for sustainability thru human-centric scale. There’s also something delightfully cult about this… especially coming from an American context, where growing up, I had to sit through more than one sermon about how the Davinci Code shouldn’t inspire doubt among believers, watching adults around me experience actual Doubt inspired from a fictional novel. Agreed with critiques re: price point - $1.2mil or so of projected revenue is a lot to not offer transparency or charity around it. Glad the paper mill is ultimately okay!

[@oli7457]

Did the math with a calculator looking at $1431 USD per book - $1.78mil projected revenue. Whew. Definitely in touch with the upper-middle class art market of more affordable collectibles with a likelihood of getting a return on investment.

[@KS-cz2rb]

Tbh I find it a bit of a snobby project. The concept is okay but not very interesting or thoughtful. Where does the money go from the project? I think the price of 1095£ is massive and it would be nice if part of it would actually end up at oxfam or any charity shop. That would be clever. If it is anything it is amazing craftsmanship from the paper makers to the printers and binders.

[@OrangeBananaPear]

Forgive me but I think this is a huge waste of time and effort. Perhaps over my head.