Introduction: the First Page

Each Western-world book that has ever been written has been read from left to right. But what if we should be reading things from right to left? Anne Carson's Float gives it's readers a series of chapbooks of assorted subject matters, made so that readers SHOULD challenge the order of the books. But what if we should do this for every piece of literature we come across? By taking a look at the works of Charles Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Walter de la Mare's This Year: Next Year, and more, this exhibit makes a step towards full literacy/interpretation skills that challenges how we see books, literature, images, etc. as art, or rather, how we do not. 

This exhibit is not just about teaching readers to look for the context for each piece of art we look at, but rather changing the very idea of interpretation to a more 3-dimensional journey. When you see a painting, most people will say what they see and what it makes them feel. This exhibit challenges us to go a step further and ask why we feel this way and why is this painting even where it is today? 

Note: In this exhibit, some assumptions are made. First, that we are thinking within a western context. People in other cultures view art in a very different way. This exhibit tackles interpretation in the western mindset. Second, the claims in this exhibit are made with the view of the average art consumer. Everyone views art and literature in their own individual way, but this exhibit looks at the perceptions of the general citizen of the western world.