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The House Inside the House of Gregor Schneider
A narrator is trapped inside a house, where their search for an exit ends up only adding to its walls, its ceilings, its floors, its rooms.
The House Inside The House of Gregor Schneider is a conceptual nouveau roman constructed almost entirely from appropriated writings on the work of Gregor Schneider, primarily encounters with Die Familie Schneider and Haus u r .
The texts come from various sources, including Schneider himself. All names and second-person references have been replaced with the first-person. Past and future tenses have become present-tense. 'House' is sometimes replaced by 'room.' Words have been pluralised, singularised, or erased wherever necessary.
For both the conceptualist writer and practitioners of the nouveau roman, objects take on a position of prominence. For the former, words are objects. For the latter, objects come to the fore as plot and character are made subsidiary. In merging these theoretical standpoints (while also mirroring Schneider's own artistic practice), THITHOGS places words/objects behind or in front of each other until they are no longer tools of orientation but disorientation.
There are only the objects and the narrator's/artist's subservience to them. There is only the coalescing of objects/words and our being lost inside them. There is no around or through or retreat, only deeper inside the ever-growing yet ever-shrinking surface.
The House Inside The House of Gregor Schneider is a conceptual nouveau roman constructed almost entirely from appropriated writings on the work of Gregor Schneider, primarily encounters with Die Familie Schneider and Haus u r .
The texts come from various sources, including Schneider himself. All names and second-person references have been replaced with the first-person. Past and future tenses have become present-tense. 'House' is sometimes replaced by 'room.' Words have been pluralised, singularised, or erased wherever necessary.
For both the conceptualist writer and practitioners of the nouveau roman, objects take on a position of prominence. For the former, words are objects. For the latter, objects come to the fore as plot and character are made subsidiary. In merging these theoretical standpoints (while also mirroring Schneider's own artistic practice), THITHOGS places words/objects behind or in front of each other until they are no longer tools of orientation but disorientation.
There are only the objects and the narrator's/artist's subservience to them. There is only the coalescing of objects/words and our being lost inside them. There is no around or through or retreat, only deeper inside the ever-growing yet ever-shrinking surface.
248 pages, Paperback
First published February 12, 2023
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72 people want to read
About the author
Gary J. Shipley
47 books178 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Gary J. Shipley is a writer and philosopher based in the UK. He has published work in various philosophy journals and literary journals.
Gary J. Shipley is a writer and philosopher based in the UK. He has published work in various philosophy journals and literary journals.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 2, 2023
*I read this book with no knowledge of Gregor Schneider or his work.
The first iteration of the text is melodic in its echoes, luring me along a tour of a house nested inside of itself. Remnants of trauma pile on top of themselves in rooms hiding behind their own walls. An architectural safari that traverses ever inwards and reveals only more of the same.
Moving deeper, the second iteration is (un)familiar. I’ve been here before, haven’t been here before. I struggle to maintain the concept of all existing layers. This house’s repetitions have become manifold and dense and I persevere on my Möbian exploration.
By the third iteration, I’ve blocked out anything beyond the perceived object. “I have to accept the rooms…as they are, and accept the most recently built as perfectly normal” in order to keep going. Ignore all that lies beneath. “This is the work of something insulating itself…whether I am insulating myself from the world or whether it’s a breakthrough—I don’t really know.” The text here is difficult to navigate though the path is unchanging.
This book is an unheimlich working of infinity.
The first iteration of the text is melodic in its echoes, luring me along a tour of a house nested inside of itself. Remnants of trauma pile on top of themselves in rooms hiding behind their own walls. An architectural safari that traverses ever inwards and reveals only more of the same.
Moving deeper, the second iteration is (un)familiar. I’ve been here before, haven’t been here before. I struggle to maintain the concept of all existing layers. This house’s repetitions have become manifold and dense and I persevere on my Möbian exploration.
By the third iteration, I’ve blocked out anything beyond the perceived object. “I have to accept the rooms…as they are, and accept the most recently built as perfectly normal” in order to keep going. Ignore all that lies beneath. “This is the work of something insulating itself…whether I am insulating myself from the world or whether it’s a breakthrough—I don’t really know.” The text here is difficult to navigate though the path is unchanging.
This book is an unheimlich working of infinity.
August 12, 2024
Hypnotic.
February 15, 2024
Like reading a book (inside a book, inside a book, inside a book) in a cave (inside a cave, inside a cave, inside a cave) with a crazy echo (inside an echo, inside an echo, inside an echo)
Based on an art project by Gregor Schneider in which he built rooms inside of existing rooms. Shipley does the same here with his words twisting you around corners and pushing you through doorways until you feel disoriented and lost inside of his book/labyrinth. Theres tons of repetition here, but once you get the rhythm of the text down it starts to feel poetic. The real treat here is to notice the differences between each of the three sections, as they appear at first to be just replicas of previous sections with extra use of repetition, but are actually much more than that.
"I will die in one of these rooms inside rooms inside rooms."
Based on an art project by Gregor Schneider in which he built rooms inside of existing rooms. Shipley does the same here with his words twisting you around corners and pushing you through doorways until you feel disoriented and lost inside of his book/labyrinth. Theres tons of repetition here, but once you get the rhythm of the text down it starts to feel poetic. The real treat here is to notice the differences between each of the three sections, as they appear at first to be just replicas of previous sections with extra use of repetition, but are actually much more than that.
"I will die in one of these rooms inside rooms inside rooms."
August 28, 2023
A bit over my head, though googling Gregor Schneider and his work gives a bit more insight into what’s being referenced. That said, the implied narrative labyrinth might work well as a short story, but it quickly gets repetitive (not helped that subsequent sections of the book are just the first section rewritten with more layers upon layers (upon layers, etc.)). Neat as a narrative exercise, I suppose.
edit: it's worth pointing out that the Schneider artworks in question also inform Shipley's most recent book, So Beautiful and Elastic. That said, this doesn't change my original outlook on this book.
edit: it's worth pointing out that the Schneider artworks in question also inform Shipley's most recent book, So Beautiful and Elastic. That said, this doesn't change my original outlook on this book.
August 12, 2024
Monolithic
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews