firstsite contemporary art colchester

Abigail Reynolds, Exchequer 1

17 September – 23 October
Abigail Reynolds
The Frozen Sea

The Frozen Sea, an installation by Abigail Reynolds, maps the shape of a word as it evolves through time.

Since 1993 the OED has been undergoing a complete revision. For the past year Reynolds has been working alongside the lexicographers as they revise each individual entry in the largest dictionary in the world. The Frozen Sea revisits the research of the OED department, pressing a consideration of what is meant by knowledge and information, and questioning our desire to have a definitive answer.

I was drawn to the OED because, as a project, it brilliantly teeters on the brink of folly. To rise to the challenge of documenting the whole of the English language is both heroic and monumentally absurd. It can never be done.’

Supported by the Oxford University Press, The Leverhulme Trust and Arts Council England: Grants for the Arts

	Abigail Reynolds, Exchequer 1 17 September – 23 October Abigail Reynolds The Frozen Sea The Frozen Sea, an installation by Abigail Reynolds, maps the shape of a word as it evolves through time. Since 1993 the OED has been undergoing a complete revision. For the past year Reynolds has been working alongside the lexicographers as they revise each individual entry in the largest dictionary in the world. The Frozen Sea revisits the research of the OED department, pressing a consideration of what is meant by knowledge and information, and questioning our desire to have a definitive answer. I was drawn to the OED because, as a project, it brilliantly teeters on the brink of folly. To rise to the challenge of documenting the whole of the English language is both heroic and monumentally absurd. It can never be done.’ Supported by the Oxford University Press, The Leverhulme Trust and Arts Council England: Grants for the Arts