The Surviving Object

Phantoms and Symptoms

Nicholas Shaddick

…the besieged swiftly consumed all stockpiled food and edible livestock, then turned to horses, cats, dogs, rats, moles and mice for sustenance. “Necessity, the mistress of the arts” led people to find nourishment in scraped, washed, soaked and boiled animal skins, and when these leathers had all been eaten, “the more subtle and ingenious” among the citizenry turned to vellum, “and not only blank parchment, but also letters, legal titles, printed books and manuscript, not hesitating to eat the most ancient of them…”

Joseph Leo Koerner, Art in a State of Seige, 2025