OVAL by Elvia Will
with Elvia Wilk in conversation with Nick Axel at 8.30pm
Thursday February 20, 8pmBizarre 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 art-making, ‘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.
Nick Axel is an editor, architect, educator and theorist, and is currently deputy editor for e-flux Architecture and head of the Architecture department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie.
