February
1 - 28, 2007
Kianga
Ford
The
act of quantification requires, first and
foremost, the establishment of a set of criteria for
what is and what is not to be counted. It is concerned
with the sorting of objects and with the recognition
of difference. This piece charts the legislative and
practical attmepts to define blackness and to quantify
whiteness and blackness.
foremost, the establishment of a set of criteria for
what is and what is not to be counted. It is concerned
with the sorting of objects and with the recognition
of difference. This piece charts the legislative and
practical attmepts to define blackness and to quantify
whiteness and blackness.
Project
Statement:
"Counting responds to the contemporary currency of quantitative strategies of self-narration, like "I'm half ___ or I'm 25% ____. Distilling the fruits of a collaboration with a statistician and an abstract mathematician, the installation renders several points in the varied history of U.S. racial definition as mathematical equations. Based on research into the history of legislative decisions and dictates about who counts as what, the equations focus on twelve defining moments in racial discourse in the US, from the strict sorting percentiles of the antebellum past to the 2000 census debates. Juxtaposed with an original story about a young Polish-American who "passes" as black (The Incredible True Adventures of a Boy Named Quest), the equations take up the complexities of self-definition, the relationship of external evaluative criteria to personal experience, and the historical fluidity of categorization."
"Counting responds to the contemporary currency of quantitative strategies of self-narration, like "I'm half ___ or I'm 25% ____. Distilling the fruits of a collaboration with a statistician and an abstract mathematician, the installation renders several points in the varied history of U.S. racial definition as mathematical equations. Based on research into the history of legislative decisions and dictates about who counts as what, the equations focus on twelve defining moments in racial discourse in the US, from the strict sorting percentiles of the antebellum past to the 2000 census debates. Juxtaposed with an original story about a young Polish-American who "passes" as black (The Incredible True Adventures of a Boy Named Quest), the equations take up the complexities of self-definition, the relationship of external evaluative criteria to personal experience, and the historical fluidity of categorization."