This work is part of a series looking at the decline in significance of encyclopaedias.
With today's easy access to vast sources of information (and endless discussion regarding origin and bias) the notion that it was possible to create a complete and stable volume of information seems wildly idealistic.
Yet before their obsolescence, encyclopaedias were trusted and unchallenged as a principal, most reliable source of information. They declared to provide an overview of all human knowledge, and, even more boldly, to put that knowledge into a coherent, logical order.
These bulky volumes brought prestige, the promise of knowledge and educational advantage to those who owned them - especially the most coveted, Encyclopaedia Britannica. Considered so important, they were a major investment - with loans and payment plans available to purchase sets that could cost several months family income.
I was a little disappointed that we were a Funk and Wagnall family. These small, dull volumes seemed less authoritative than the hefty beige and gold Britannicas. Nonetheless I have a lingering sense of nostalgia around this printed form and the childhood hours spent among their pages.
reclaimed paper (encyclopaedia pages), stone plinth (hydrostone - gypsum cement)
13 x 15 x 33 cm
Finalist
Samantha Mackie, in conversation with Professor Ian Howard, discusses her work A Reliable Source - Set in Stone #1. Recorded on 6 November 2021 at the 20th Anniversary Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize exhibition, Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf.
Judges of the 20th Anniversary Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize: Dr Lara Strongman (Director Curatorial and Digital, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia), Joanna Capon OAM (Art Historian, Curator and Industrial Archaeologist) and Jenny Kee AO (Artist and Fashion Designer).
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