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Posts tagged ‘John Latham’
February 18, 2015  |  Events & Programs
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John Latham. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1971. 16mm film (black and white, silent), 6:33 min. The Museum of New York. Anna Marie and Robert F. Shapiro Fund and Committee on Media Funds. © 2015 John Latham

John Latham. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1971. 16mm film (black and white, silent), 6:33 min. The Museum of New York. Anna Marie and Robert F. Shapiro Fund and Committee on Media Funds. © 2015 John Latham

In a London gallery, a volume of an encyclopedia lies open. Someone snaps a shutter, exposing the spread to a single frame of film. Someone turns the page and the process is repeated, page by page, volume by volume, over the course of the exhibition. One imagines looking on as the tissuey, Bible-like paper pages are turned, wanting to join in and snap a few frames. The result is John Latham’s 1971 film Encyclopaedia Britannica.