Mirkastan — Mirka Duijn/ Proconsul Editions

± €75 (Antiquarian Booksellers) ︎ Add to Cart

Mirkastan is a travelogue in real time, gleaned from Mirka’s twitter feed during a journey from Amsterdam to Tokyo via Serbia, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan (sort of), and China in the Spring of 2009, at a time that twitter was still being explored as a medium.

The publication of the twitter feed is initiated and edited by Rosemary Sheridan. It was published by The Proconsul Editions and launched at the Artbook@MOMA PS1 bookstore in New York.

Hardcover, 376 pgs.
English/Dutch
2010
8.75 x 11.25 inches

Mirkastan in the New York Times approval matrix:

“Like the individual frames of a film, a narrative is formed by tiny flickers of text, in which each is individually significant, but which combine to create an abstracted moving image of the experience being portrayed. Plus it’s funny and multilingual.”

Excerpts:

Page 51

We are off to (demolished village replaced by)
$50 mln Disneyland aka “Turkmenbashi
Land of Fairytales”. 4:46 AM Apr 29th from txt

Page 55

Someone was hitchhiking in the middle of the desert holding an enormous freshly caught fish in his hands. 3:03 AM Apr 30th from txt

Page 278

I couldn’t sleep without the curtains.
There was a huge storm. 10:45 AM May 22nd from txt

Page 282

Or they forgot to clean those
beneath the table.10:47 AM May 22nd from txt

Page 52

The dead silence of the park is rather eerie, people having fun with the sound turned off. #at Ashgabat. 5:50 AM Apr 29th from txt”

Page 107

Mr. Goodayberg’s (yes that is phonetic) house is cute. The fur on the toilet seat is a bit weird though. #at Cholpon-Ata 10:18 AM May 11th from txt

Page 279

Then I discovered huge bloodstains on the wall. Streams of blood were hidden under the table.10:46 AM May 22nd from txt