David Shrigley presents... Pulped Fiction
Photo credit: Alun Callender

In 2017, a charity bookshop in Swansea, UK made headline news as a result of exhibiting several hundred copies of Dan Brown's 2003 novel 'The Da Vinci Code' in its window with a sign requesting that no more copies of the book be donated as they had more than they could sell.

'Pulped Fiction' is a project by visual artist David Shrigley, who has produced a limited run of 1,250 copies of George Orwell's dystopian novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' made entirely from the pulped remains of unwanted copies of 'The Da Vinci Code'.

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An illustration of a copy of The Da Vinci Code in the style of David Shrigley
An illustration of a copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four in the style of David Shrigley

In 2023, Pulped Fiction was launched at the very charity shop in Swansea that started it all. 250 copies were available to buy at an exclusive price. After selling out within the first hour, and making headline news, the remaining copies are now available to buy.

Photo credit: Alun Callender

Throughout the journey David and his studio team were documented by filmmaker Jay Bartlett. Telling the story of how the project came to be and the numerous hurdles faced along the way, the documentary can now be seen online for the first time here.

The Documentary