Subject To Change is a three-person collaborative artist bookwork created in response to a poem by Bertolt Brecht, “The Mask of Evil” (1942).

Subject to Change begins with the “The Mask of Evil,” whose central image is a Noh mask that accompanied Brecht on his journey to the United States. Through the lyrical image of this mask, Brecht viewed the world condition from the vantage point of his exile in Santa Monica, California. For the poet, this mask epitomized the human tragedy that engulfed Europe during the Second World War. Our critical reading of the poem led us to consider unspoken assumptions of the poem and the poet, its circumstances of creation and of translation.

Subject to Change explores the relationship between seeing and reading, art and knowledge, form and content. The project aims to make the research process visible. The aim is not to reconstruct a historical journey or moment, nor to illustrate Brecht’s poem. Rather, it is to draw connections between the past and the present.


Each of the project’s participants—separated geographically in Texas, New York, and Strasbourg, France—responded via email to Brecht’s poem in a distinct register and style, resulting in a trialogue of art and text.

A concluding essay by Alexandra Pignol provides additional information and insight for the period in Brecht’s life, drawing a connection between Brecht’s poems written during his U.S. exile and his alienation from consumer culture and ersatz ideals. The publication design by Fred Dupuis dramatizes aspects of our innovative collaboration.

Text in English and French