(lineament-ball) 1994

Curator: Standing before us is Ann Hamilton’s “Lineament-Ball,” created in 1994. The piece presents a deconstructed book and a ball of shredded paper, displayed within a vitrine. The juxtaposition is stark. What is your first reaction to this tableau? Editor: Immediately, a feeling of controlled chaos comes to mind. The crisp lines of the vitrine cage this… explosive disintegration of knowledge, perhaps? A violence done to language and form contained within very rigid borders. Curator: Yes, violence is a compelling way to describe it. I see echoes of ancient rituals here—destroying a text, as if to obliterate the very ideas contained within. Editor: Which connects directly to power. Who gets to write history, whose stories are told, and who is silenced or shredded? The book itself is opened up to the point that is just a frame without words, that to me indicates erasure or censorship. Curator: The hollowed book is incredibly symbolic, acting almost like a vessel. Consider its form: opened, but empty in its core. It might be interpreted as absence where there was supposed to be knowledge. I wonder if there's any intent on exploring gendered notions of who can be heard, a power structure indeed. Editor: Absolutely, and it seems heightened by the ready-made nature of it—taking everyday objects associated with intellect and labor, like paper and books, and turning them into something else entirely. What about the "lineament" aspect of the title? How does that connect? Curator: "Lineament" suggests outline, the barest framework. Perhaps Hamilton is suggesting we're left only with traces, that history is not this solid and unchanging thing but just faint marks fading away. She does this sort of thing across different artworks. This is a conceptual project on loss. Editor: That reframing from solid truth to fragile remnants really shifts my perspective on the piece. It becomes less about destruction and more about the inherent impermanence of information itself. That maybe language or a moment can become abstract really quickly. Curator: I think your point on the fragility of information rings very true here. It invites us to reconsider the power dynamics surrounding knowledge and its preservation, maybe even suggesting new futures or interpretations. Editor: Thank you for providing context, it has definitely expanded my understanding. I see the piece in an entirely new light!