Enlightenment Erasers

1000 custom printed pink RCERA erasers. Multiple for Mercer Union Platform. 2008.

Enlightenment Erasers are an artist multiple which consists of pink bevel erasers printed with the text 'KNOWLEDGE IS POWER'. These multiples ironically present the commonly quoted phrase from Sir Francis Bacon's Religious Meditations, Of Heresies as a tool for erasing mistakes and failures. The piece draws attention to the somewhat contradictory notion that knowledge is gained through trial and error and thus power is also developed through a combination of struggle and perseverance. As the eraser is slowly used, the message is fragmented and eventually destroyed, but whether the user has actually gained anything besides a small pile of pink rubber remains unclear. An additional level of the piece suggests that knowledge and power can be used to erase and obscure information, for political, social or personal ends, presenting a more skeptical reading of the original quote than is usually implied.