Worldview 1999

Curator: Emma Kay’s "Worldview," held here at the Tate, is a rather large image, nearly two meters wide, composed of hundreds of small, grey rectangles on a white background. Editor: The visual effect is mesmerizing, like an endless series of fragmented memories trying to coalesce, but never quite succeeding. The grid-like structure feels rigid, yet the variations within each rectangle offer some release. Curator: The blocks are actually compressed text; each contains a summarized version of a different encyclopedia entry. Kay is known for her exploration of how we organize and recall information. The grid becomes a visual metaphor for systems of knowledge. Editor: Interesting. The scale and uniformity create a sense of the impersonal—a vast repository of information, perhaps even overwhelming. It invites us to question how meaning is constructed and preserved. Curator: And it's meant to. Think about what it means to try and capture the 'world' in blocks of text. What gets included and excluded? How do our individual perspectives get lost or amplified in such a format? Editor: Right, it reminds me that systems, no matter how comprehensive, are always selective. A really interesting piece that challenges our understanding of objective knowledge.