Margin of Error

Softcover | 14.6 x 1 x 23 cm | 96 pp

FIU/Wolfsonian | 2015 | 9780967735993

Margin of Error explores cultural responses to mechanical mastery and engineered catastrophes of the modern age - the shipwrecks, crashes, explosions, collapses, and novel types of workplace injury that interrupt the path of progress. Revealing the consequences of mankind’s endeavour to defy and exceed limits, the exhibition traced the narrative of technological ambition from myth and triumph to peril and accident prevention through over two hundred works from the mid-nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including decorative and graphic art, painting, sculpture, industrial artefacts, photography, and ephemera.

The narratives of industrial modernity that emerged in the nineteenth century rely on a language of visual understanding. Margin of Error considers a series of instances in which the visionary promise of mechanical improvement is confounded by practical
limits and unforeseen outcomes. From glass-house fires and electrified bodies to vehicular hazards and workplace perils, this richly illustrated volume surveys the patterns of optical disruption that are a chief characteristic of technological times.

The Wolfsonian–FIU, located in the heart of the Art Deco District of Miami Beach, Florida, is a museum, library and research centre that uses its collection to illustrate the persuasive power of art and design. Margin of Error is part of a series of publications focused on core themes in The Wolfsonian's collection.