THE THING Quarterly #16 — Dave Eggers Shower Curtain

Description

Dave Eggers is that rare author-editor-activist who treats print as both medium and message. From McSweeney’s and 826 Valencia to novels, reportage, and advocacy, he’s built a career where design, humor, and civic imagination meet. Eggers’ work often tests the edges of the book as an object and the ways text lives in the world—a perfect fit for a project that asks writers and artists to make literature you can actually use.

THE THING Quarterly was a subscription “periodical in the form of an object”—each issue commissioned a different contributor to write/design something utilitarian. For Issue 16, Eggers created a PVC-free PEVA shower curtain produced with Izola, printed with his deadpan, possessive monologue (“I am your shower curtain and I like you…”), turning bathroom routine into a page of text. Box layout/design by MacFadden & Thorpe; the project neatly folds literature, design, and domestic life into one witty artifact.

An example of the cult art-periodical that made literature useful—and funny. Eggers’ contribution is one of the series’ most displayable works; ideal for design, conceptual art, and McSweeney’s/Eggers completist collections.