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Define/Defy the Frame (-an unfolding exhibition)

Print
1990 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is one of the two Litho-prints contained in the folder (see: Mus.No. E.984:1-2008).
The prints are like an accordion fold 'book' in two sections. Both together can also be viewed as a poster by unfolding the two prints and placing them side by side. The left print is the predominately black and white one (this Mus. No, E-984:2), the right print is the coloured one (Mus. No. E.984:3).
Both prints pick up the content of the photo-collages of the folder, where they are contained in (see: Mus. No. E.984:1).
This mainly black and white folded print contains the pictures of the left extension of the folder (main picture is North American Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North) and is overlapped by one single black and white image extruded into pixels. This pixelated image shows the training of the Nicaraguan National Guard by U.S. officers in Ocotal, Nicaragua.
The folded print contains 4 folds and thus 5 pages.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleDefine/Defy the Frame (-an unfolding exhibition) (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Photography printed via offset Lithography on 80 lb. gloss Productolith paper
Brief description
Lithographic print, one of two contained in a lithographic folio entitled 'Define/Defy the Frame', by Ester Parada, 1990.
Physical description
This is one of the two Litho-prints contained in the folder (see: Mus.No. E.984:1-2008).
The prints are like an accordion fold 'book' in two sections. Both together can also be viewed as a poster by unfolding the two prints and placing them side by side. The left print is the predominately black and white one (this Mus. No, E-984:2), the right print is the coloured one (Mus. No. E.984:3).
Both prints pick up the content of the photo-collages of the folder, where they are contained in (see: Mus. No. E.984:1).
This mainly black and white folded print contains the pictures of the left extension of the folder (main picture is North American Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North) and is overlapped by one single black and white image extruded into pixels. This pixelated image shows the training of the Nicaraguan National Guard by U.S. officers in Ocotal, Nicaragua.
The folded print contains 4 folds and thus 5 pages.
Dimensions
  • Length: 97,3cm
  • Width: 27.5cm
Credit line
Given by the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity of Patric Prince
Object history
The prints and the folder were produced on the occasion of an exhibition organised by Nancy Gonchar for the University Art Museum of the State University of New York at Binghamton.
Historical context
Define/Defy the Frame attempts to dislocate a conventional reading of museum exhibition and publication formats. The "catalogue" in this case is not documentation, but rather another exhibition venue. It could be described as a folding book or poster. The artist Esther Parada calls it an "unfolding exhibition". In using this experimental form she seeks to open up a dialogue between different elements of the work - such as the poster and the folder - as well as between the artist and viewer.
The work contained in this folder posits an historical framework dominated by the establishment and proliferation of United States military power throughout the hemisphere. This hierarchical relationship is represented visually through the expansion of a single image - the training of the Nicaraguan National Guard by U.S. officers in Ocotal, Nicaragua, 1927 - as a kind of pixel matrix (cit: taken from text within folder).
Subjects depicted
Collection
Accession number
E.984:2-2008

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Record createdJune 8, 2009
Record URL
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