ART FOR ART’S SAKE: “SLOW STORIES” – A BRILLIANT NEW MULTI-MEDIA “ART BUNDLE” FROM BETTE A. AND BRIAN ENO
The phrase “Art For Art’s Sake” is a slogan that expresses the independence of art from social values and utilitarian functions. Critics explore (or abhor) the arguments, examples, and criticisms of this aesthetic work in literature, music, and visual arts. Herein is a great new special edition bundle (limited to only of 444 copies) containing a hardcover book of Bette’s A.’s ”Slow Stories,” a vinyl record with the recording of two stories from the book read by the author and set to Brian Eno’s music (only available as part of the bundle), and a 20×20 cm unique and numbered hand-painted panel, signed by both artists. This presentation renders each individual copy a one-of-a-kind collector’s edition available now for preorder. Both the bundle and the book separately will be released on March 3, 2026, exclusively available from Unnamed Press. The bundle will sell out quickly. It will only exceed its value on the secondary market if you are fortunate enough to buy one. Not inexpensive, but a rare collectible package indeed!
Brian Eno’s compositions create an aesthetically appealing ambient sound, underlining Bette A.’s voice as she tells two of the stories in the collection, “The Endless House” and “The Other Village.” The simple, calming pace of the story is a deliberate choice, according to the author, who says, “When a story is told slowly, every sentence becomes more vital.” Usually when we hear stories read, we expect the pace of the reading to be even,” added Brian Eno, whose only instruction to Bette as she recorded her short stories was: “Slow, slower, even slower, yes, more slow.” Eno explained, “What we discovered when we were making these stories is that leaving longer spaces gives your mind a chance to imagine the detail that is hinted at in the story. The music creates a suggestive atmosphere that supports you in doing that. You do not want a lot of action in the music: what you want is to create an evocative space that leaves you, the listener, in a creative frame of mind.” Eno’s music is sonic bliss. It is quite euphonious—even sublime. Aesthetically appeasing and never vacuous or insipid (this is not elevator music)! It subtly grasps you and immerses you with a sense of tranquility.
Bette added, “When everything is fast, fragmented, and designed to grasp your attention, attuning to one very slow story can be a radical act. This record is a guided daydream, a space for rest and imagination.” “My stories take place in strange and imaginary towns and villages from pasts that never happened and futures that will never occur,” explains Bette. “These worlds exist without an elaborate background description, like islands in a misty sea.”
For both artists, slowness functions not only as a stylistic decision but as an act of resistance. Giving 30 minutes of your attention to something that is not urgent, not loud, and not passive is rare. Putting on a record is a physical gesture to enter that mode, engage with art, and, maybe, your inner world. Immersive and unique.
The hand-painted artworks accompanying the ”Slow Stories” art bundle extend this collaboration into a shared visual world. The paintings by Bette and Brian depict immersive, dreamlike terrains – birch forests with graffiti, lunar mountain ranges, floating eggs, and geometric color fields. Like the stories, the paintings leave room for the viewer to enter and make the work their own.
The artist’s proceeds of the sale of the bundle will go to their charities: The Heroines! Movement, a global storytelling movement around women role models, co-founded by Bette, and Earth Percent, a charity that channels funds from the music industry to organizations that do the most impactful work around the climate emergency, co-founded by Brian.
About Bette A
Bette A. is an artist, born in Amsterdam. As a child, she liked to write plays and her primary school teachers allowed her to practice them in the gymnasium. She joined a youth theatre group in her hometown. Bette continued to study Image and Language at the Gerrit Rietveld Art Academy of Amsterdam, where she learned to follow wild ideas. After doing a Master’s in Creative Writing at Oxford University, she started writing in both English and Dutch, and published her novels Rus Like Everyone Else and What’s Mine. Aside from writing novels, Bette makes short stories and drawings and teaches in art schools.
About Brian Eno
Brian Eno is an artist. He was born in Suffolk and studied art at Ipswich and Winchester art colleges. After art school, he joined the band Roxy Music (synthesizer and keyboards). Over the next five decades, he continued to make music and created what is known as “Ambient Music” with others, including Talking Heads, Devo, U2, Laurie Anderson, James, David Byrne, Coldplay, David Bowie, Grace Jones, Jon Hassell, Harold Budd, and Fred Again. Brian’s visual art has been shown internationally in over 200 venues. Brian often lectures, trying to answer the question: What does art do?
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Press Photo of Bette A and Brian Eno, 2025 from UNNAMED PRESS: