“A Counterfeit Utopia” with Robert Antoni, presented by Cabinet. 

Robert Antoni’s historical novel As Flies to Whatless Boys (Akashic Books, 2013) documents his family’s journey from London to Trinidad in 1845 as part of the Tropical Emigration Society, a utopian experiment lead by the German inventor John Adolphus Etzler. By turns engineer, visionary, and boldfaced charlatan, Etzler claimed to have invented machines, powered by the immense forces of Mother Nature, that would transform the tropics into an English garden virtually overnight. A historical account by Antoni of Etzler’s extraordinary endeavor and the fate of his Tropical Emigration Society is available in Cabinet no. 51. Antoni’s multimedia presentation at the Cabinet event space will weave a variety of real, manipulated, and fabricated documents: the patents and mechanical drawings for Etzler’s machines; and personal notebooks, maps, letters, and films.

This event is free and open to the public. No RSVP required. Beer lovingly provided by Brooklyn Brewery!