An Arbitrary Formation of Unspecified Value

Author: Jennifer Quartararo

Publisher: Bunny (2024)

An Arbitrary Formation of Unspecified Value is a fragmented book-length essay in which we see the city of Detroit through two distinct seasons: the summer Quartararo worked with a letterpress artist in a former veal locker, and the winter she lived on a dead end street slated for possible removal next to a defunct highway overpass. We see the city from the seat of her bicycle, from the #42 bus, and for miles on foot as she meditates on the erasure of memories, the impermanence of bodies, and the disintegration of structures. Quartararo’s Detroit teems with life as she explores the ways people are both shaped by, and take shape of, landscapes.