in Jorge Luis Borges’ short story, The Book of Sand (1975), we find a mysterious book, that, like the sand, neither has a beginning, nor an end. pages literally multiply between the pages, and once you open the book you never encounter the same content in it. “the number of pages in this book is exactly infinite. no page is the first; none the last. i don’t know why they’re numbered in this arbitrary way. perhaps it’s to demonstrate that an infinite series includes any number.”

conceptualized & directed by alina sokulska, the book of sand is a study of memory and identity, that works through spontaneous composition, algorithms of geomantic systems, and personal family archives, spontaneous composition and theories of critical cartography.

proposing a reading of the Borgesian concept of the infinite knowledge, the project reflects upon what, how, when, and until where is it, “to understand”? trying to figure out a formula to approach the liminal / erased identity in the accumulation dynamics of the DNA, the project’s pieces conjure up a corporeality that is set as a divination capsule thought at the same time as a place, a space, and an articulator of all possible narratives unfolding out of it. relying on the compositional tension between destination and accident, the oracles (interpreters) of the book of sand navigate between the binarities of memory – oblivion, expansion – fragmentation, accumulation – erasure, and abstraction – narration, setting the question of “how much of us is left?”

the book of sand represents a series, a system of the pieces, and has a modular structure, embracing the varied dramaturgies  of its pieces, with its elastic format permitting constant restructuring and playing with an idea of the format and duration.