All the Vermeers in New York (Jon Jost 1990)
Thirstiness is a hybrid essay taking the experience of viewing art/writing online platform Seiren as anchor for critical thinking around art publishing, the gamification of reading experiences, nostalgia and screens.
From Kirsty Dunlop's introduction to the text:
'Lucie McLaughlin thirsts for the nostalgic trashiness of a previous World Wide Web, by way of the website and gallery space Seiren, entered through 'a collage of Windows 95 error messages'. Reflecting Seiren's navigating structure, the essay unravels its connections through a rhizomatic form, via Anne Carson, Gossip Girl, Otessa Moshfegh, Maria Fusco, Polly Pockets, Lisa Robertson, and more, merging visual artwork with words.'
'I have been having problems with my eyes for a while. Headaches that start in the lids and reach upwards, a thirstiness that the drops I bought only quench for ten minutes. Auras at the corners of my vision. Eyes are never really closed, but covered. A sudden awareness interrupts as I try to sleep, right where the two lids meet. I open them slightly and see from the window it’s the shine of a few fat stars in a soup of sky, pinpricked by lesser lights.'
(Excerpt)