The whole field of Human Knowledge

Abstract

This research paper examines the shifting role of the Encyclopaedia Britannica as a politicised, Western, gendered (male) account of history. This paper considers the encyclopaedia’s problematic status as a “holy” book or monument to human achievement, and explores destructive abstraction as a method by which this status can be challenged. The paper outlines the conceptual and practical development of my creative work in three distinct chapters. Chapter one explores the shifting role the encyclopaedia has played within culture, as well as the various ways it has been interrogated and challenged in contemporary art practice, with a particular focus on the work of Simryn Gill, Idris Khan, and John Latham. Chapter two examines works by Ann Hamilton, On Kawara, and Titarubi to explore the function reading serves in society and religious practices. Chapter three explores the act of destruction as a form of abstraction in the work of Ann Hamilton, Michelle Nikou, and Simryn Gill.