A companion to: Findings, vol. 5
From an art exhibition about the connections between sci-fi and Asian mythology, a handful of sci-fi book suggestions dating from the 1880s by Asian authors.
Hello, I’m Emily, and this is a newsletter about how we seek and tell stories to make sense of a rapidly changing world & our personal and collective place in it.
Heads up: There's a companion letter to this letter.
When I was in Singapore last month, I visited an exhibition at the Art Science Museum called New Eden, which draws out the connections between sci-fi and Asian mythologies and philosophies through the work of twenty-four Asian women artists and collectives.
I was sometimes reminded of Dina Litovsky’s letter on artist statements while peering at the exhibition commentaries and wondered how we could visualize sci-fi films in a more novel way than with white suits and sterile environments. But I did find a few interesting things, such as Anne Samat’s unconventional weavings and Etsuko Ichihara’s take on the Namahage, and a lot of reading suggestions from a section that attempts to chart a global history of sci-fi since the 1880s.
I’ve included in this letter five of the curated book suggestions by Asian authors that I found interesting (I’ve shortlisted those who have work published in English), along with bit notes quoted from the exhibition on the defining features of the relevant decade, and links I found that give the works more context.
I hope you find something good to read!