Visit [country]

Book

2025

Visit [country] is an artist’s book that brings together texts taken word for word from official government tourism websites and state-produced promotional videos from every UN-recognized country in the world. Stripped of the usual accompanying imagery and inspirational music, what becomes clear is how tourism feeds on — and is fuelled by — nationalism, chauvinism, and the invention of identity.

Much like a “choose your own adventure” book, the reader is guided by a series of questions that connect one country to another through recurring ideas and clichés, and must decide whether to visit the destination with “the best food”, “the most beautiful women”, “the friendliest people”, or “the most authentic history”. The book also includes an extensive concept index that maps the thematic and linguistic patterns linking the nations’ self-descriptions. It is a journey where every country is the best.

The project grows out of The Complete National Anthems of the World, a durational performance first presented in 2023, and stands as a parallel, autonomous, yet complementary work.

Format

11 × 24 cm

Offset printed

4 different cover variations

504 black-and-white text pages

300 copies

ISBN 978-989-35211-8-2

Language

English

Published by

Sismógrafo and Calote Esférica

Funded by

DGArtes – Direcção-Geral das Artes/República Portuguesa

→ BUY HERE 20€

Concept, research, editing of found texts, and original texts

Carlos Azeredo Mesquita

Design

Macedo Cannatà
Proofreading

Vanessa Gomes da Costa
Sassyfication

Liam Warren
Technical support and programming

Marcelo Reis