Exposition

A to Z: Visualising Every Word in the Dictionary in Alphabetical Order (2022)

Dave Ball
open exposition

About this exposition

en
This exposition focuses on my 35-year-long project to visualise every word in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary in alphabetical order, A to Z. Begun in 2011, the point of departure here is a particular moment in the unfolding of the project: the recent completion of the final D-word, “dystopia”. A to Z is premised upon the carrying out of a defined conceptual rule: a “tactically absurd” commitment to a lifetime of artistic effort, whose ostensible folly gives rise to an ever-expanding body of work that appears arbitrary, unwarranted, and nonsensical, but which, through its playful insistence, might also be understood as operating in a new and alternative realm of sense.

sv
Den här expositionen fokuserar på mitt 35-åriga projekt att visualisera varje ord i Concise Oxford English Dictionary i alfabetisk ordning, från A till Z. Projektet påbörjades 2011, och utgångspunkten här är ett särskilt ögonblick i projektets utveckling: när jag nyligen slutförde det sista D-ordet, "dystopia". A till Z bygger på en definierad konceptuell regel: ett ”taktiskt absurt” engagemang för ett livslångt konstnärligt arbete, vars skenbara dårskap ger upphov till en ständigt växande samling verk som verkar godtyckliga, omotiverade och nonsensartade – men som genom sin lekfulla ihärdighet också upprättar nya meningssammanhang.
typeresearch exposition
keywordsabsurdity, absurd, conceptual art, rule-based art, edurance art, performance, drawing, PHOTOGRAPHY
date13/05/2022
published17/11/2022
last modified17/11/2022
statuspublished
share statusprivate
affiliationHumboldt University, Berlin / University of Southampton
copyrightDave Ball
licenseCC BY-NC-ND
languageBritish English
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/1633591/1633592
doihttps://doi.org/10.22501/vis.1633591
published inVIS - Nordic Journal for Artistic Research
portal issue8. VIS Issue 8
external linkwww.daveballartist.co.uk


Simple Media

id name copyright license
1634297 aardvark-2600 Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1634314 Caption Artist's own work All rights reserved
1634331 Section headings Artist's own work All rights reserved
1634345 abacus Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1634352 abandonment Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1634359 abatement Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635205 abnormailty Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635219 adversity Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635258 Art Claims Impulse installation 1 Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635263 ACI 2 Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635271 ACI 3 Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635277 Boar Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635286 blonde Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635291 Boisterousness Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635293 Bluntness Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635306 Oldham 1 Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635311 Oldham 2 Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635316 Cirrus Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635321 Cistern Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635326 Civility Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635335 Oldham 3 Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635340 34oldham-cs10 Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635352 Dad-image Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635358 Daffodil Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1635363 Day-image Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1636238 Dystopia Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1681409 abdomen Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1681426 cirrus Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1681427 cistern Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1681428 civility Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1681548 baboon Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1681550 bachelor Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1681552 back Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1681559 backwardness Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1681603 img457 Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1681606 baboon-paper-tint0 Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1681615 back-paper-tint3 Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1681620 bachelor-paper-tint5 Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND
1681621 backwardness-paper-tint5 Artist's own image CC BY-NC-ND

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