Erick Beltrán, The World Explained. A Microhistorical Encyclopedia, 2012

Artist’s book by Erick Beltrán. Divided over three exhibition projects taken place in Sao Paulo, Barcelona, and Amsterdam, Beltrán interviewed a large number of people and collected a variety of personal theories on all kinds of subjects. He drew his inspiration from micro-history, a genre in cultural history that focuses on personal stories and apparently minor events, sketching a picture of a culture or mentality of a particular period. ‘Our view of the world is determined not just by what we have learned about the world or even what we have actually experienced,’ Beltrán explains. ‘It consists to a large extent of suspicions, makeshift connections and personal interpretations.’