Michael Maranda
Reading (Encyclopaedia Brittanica)
three volumes
altered books, wax, fat
1998
statement . . .
A reprint of the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica in which each page has been individually waxed and then coated with rendered fat. While the books technically remain functional, the act of reading is physically constrained by the effort required to turn the pages and psychologically constrained in the viscerality of the fat, which transfers to the reader's hands.