VAS: An Opera in Flatland

VAS: An Opera in Flatland is a collaborative novel by Steve Tomasula and Stephen Farrell. VAS chronicles Square, Oval, and the other inhabitants of Flatland as they find themselves slipping into a postbiological future where lying down with the scalpel is as common as buying and selling genes. Printed in the colors of flesh and blood, this hybrid image/text novel demonstrates how differing ways of imagining the body generate diverse stories of history, gender, politics, and, ultimately, the literature of who we are. Using a wide and historical sweep of representations of the body—from pedigree charts to genetic sequences—VAS searches for one's identity within the double helix of language and lineage.

One of the many challenges of our work process is bridging the domain of graphic design with its close yet sometimes contentious domain of writing and recasting them into a more integrated and simultaneous activity. Our collaborative approach encourages design that does not merely house text but that creates its own crosscurrents of analysis and reflection. Design is integral in gathering, processing, and reinterpreting the research for works like VAS and for drawing out underlying subtexts. The architecture of the page and vocabulary of design motifs feed off the writing as the writing feeds off the design, both guiding a project’s scope, its themes, and its ultimate form. The result is an expanded language of literature and design.

Approximate cost for 1,000 casebound copies: $25,000.

“This takes itself out of being a book—it is an art object.” Robert Valentine
“This book is so beautiful. Highly poetic and legible.” Susanna Dulkinys