Hoping to encourage community conversations across disciplines, Nationale now has a book club. Once a month, we will meet to chat about a selected book that relates thematically to our exhibition. User Not Found, an essay in tiny book form by Felicity Fenton, is the selection for our June group show, Assembly, which addresses the necessity of community and real life interactions for art spaces to survive.

First of all, this book is only six dollars. Second of all, it’s a quick and easy read. Third of all, it’s REALLY GOOD. And it is published locally by Future Tense Books!

Does anyone really enjoy Instagram at this point? Is Twitter something positive and constructive that adds to our lives? What percentage of people using social media do it for reasons other than addictive dependence and/or necessity? How many of us need periodic breaks in order to maintain our sanity? And, if we decide we want to loosen the grip of social media on our lives someday, what will the alternative be?

In User Not Found, Felicity Fenton opens up the discussion for us by describing her attempt to step away from “The Walls” of social media. The result is simultaneously comforting, challenging, heartbreaking, and funny. It’s a natural conversation starter. So please, pick up a copy of this little treasure and join us for book club on Tuesday, June 25 at 6:30pm. Fenton herself will lead our meeting.
—Jess Mcfadden