Events of 1959 - 1960 - 1961
Encylopaedia Britannica - with Water, Paint and PVA
Body of Work, The Merrion Centre, Leeds, 2007
In this work, Kaplinsky endeavours to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica while her hands are covered in various materials (PVA, paint powder, water), thus, marking every page as she goes along. However, for Kaplinsky, the reading process is not linear. Reading occupies an ambiguous space, always in between the desire for knowledge and the singular moment of intrigue that catches the eye. Each soiled page traces the hand gestures that leaf between each encyclopaedic entry. And yet, Kaplinsky treads cautiously over the idea of re-inscribing her own subjectivity onto the great corpus of knowledge that is the Encyclopaedia; the material utilised evades any imprint that could be recognised as the hand; that is, we cannot recognise Kaplinsky in the work, we can only see the markings of a spectral body (one is reminded of Events of 1959 ). There is an interesting meeting between a body and the body. The marked pages are also a direct violation on the pedagogic injunction of the encyclopaedia: Kaplinsky gathers what ever she finds interesting and holds no responsibility over parts and pages that are ignored. Her gatherings are specific to a particular time and place: be it the single hour that the video tape lasts or the space of the studio. The viewer must note that where there is more material debris, one could argue there was a more thorough reading of the text: the hands stay longer on that which is of interest. This therefore creates a sculptural quality to the works. The form is determined on the reading.
Hammam Aldouri