Endless Suburbs

"Endless Suburbs" is a work "inspired largely by the software that it was created in. By utilizing a collection of online java applets, the work is reminiscent of a book with duplicate pages. M. D. Coverley believed that this sense of repetition brought to mind a machine creating identical products in a never-ending assembly line. Deciding on this theme, she created a list of single-paragraph stories about generic American ideals, such as owning a nice car, finding love, buying a house, and working full-time. But as the stories go on, america quickly falls into chaos: 'Everybody is working full-time to support twelve cars and 10,000 square feet of living space. No one can drive anywhere because of traffic.'

When a user enters the site, they are shown an image of a family and a car accompanied by the words “You want one of each. So we make a lot.” They are then presented with the title and author of the work, along with a gif of cars being printed like pages of a book. Beside the image is a link that reads “Is something going wrong with this machine? Just push a button.” This is foreshadowing the next screen, which places story titles on the left and short paragraphs on the right. When read together, the titles themselves tell the story of malfunctioning equipment, and increasing panic as the machine continues to produce despite attempts to shut it off. Images of a car accompany each of these titles, which are gradually altered until the car eventually explodes. The stories on the right also become more chaotic over time, which detail the lives of various people thriving and struggling in america. -- Kathleen Zoller, The Progressive Dinner Party Restored