PHOTOS: ISTVAN VIRAG (C) PUNKT Ø / MOMENTUM 9
Johannes Heldén (SE)
New New Hampshire (2017)
Between February 3rd and May 18th, 43 artifacts were released for sale on three different online forums. Three pseudonyms were used, all from the same IP address. The items were reported to be related to the events in January in central New Hampshire.
Thus begins the novel New New Hampshire by Johannes Heldén, dated to the year 2037. The novel lists all the 43 artefacts, ranging from an external hard drive to a block of ice, along with the relevant official information as well as the personal description of the FBI agent(s) who under pseudonyms were assigned to purchase them online from the likewise anonymous sellers. What actually happened in central New Hampshire is never revealed but the forensic evidence of the artefacts suggests some kind of dramatic if not catastrophic event. Instead of solving the “crime” the novel poses a series of questions about what will remain of us, after us, and how we make sense of us after the fact.
