The incomplete lexicon of art

At the end of 2019, Lucas Kröeff began an investigation into the lexicons of art history produced in the past century. How can we expose the hegemonic structure present in the "History of Art"?

Investigating the correlations of "art history" reveals a type of violence (and co-optation) that structures an "official narrative" with a Eurocentric focus, circumscribing the production of concepts, works, and events throughout the years within its own history. Concepts like modernity, originality, and avant-garde are widely present, revealing an internal need to also recount a possible art history based on the power structures that shape society, where art and artists become instruments of distinction and stratification.

The attempt to dissociate European art history and its development from the idea of an official art narrative is the decolonial exercise necessary for the world to recover the existing diversity that has been silenced. As Brazilian art critic Frederico Morais said, it is necessary to explore the future while proposing new ways of structuring multiculturalism that bring an end to the "official art history," replacing it with a circular cosmology composed of multiple narratives formed by various voices.

To produce this book, Lucas researched the presence and absence of what evokes this possible European art history in the Pompidou library's collection. Approximately 170 entries were collected and subsequently erased, forming an empty book that may or may not be rewritten.

Technical Details
Year: 2020
Language: English
Format: 11 x 18 cm
Pages: 173
Type: Softcover