Oliver Mayhew
- (artist and translated by) Niccoló Pachiavelli
- (fictitious author) Niccoló Machiavelli
- (original author)
Pages: 59pp Size: 195 x 120mm Technique: Digital print Edition: 30
Theme(s): Censorship, visual encoding and re-translation of Niccolo Machiavelli`s `The Prince`
Place publication: (Pretoria, South Africa) Publisher: The artist
Reference note: Hardcover codex presented as a connect the dots reinterpretation, through a method of censoring, of the 1999 Penguin edition of Niccolò Machiavell's `The Prince'.
The book's dust jacket states:
'V.I.P. by Niccolò Pachiavelli is an abbreviated version of Niccolò Machiavelli's `The Prince`. This book is written as an instant pleasure principle: each of the 26 chapters is laid out as a quick and easy connect the dots lessons on how to be an effective and prosperous individual*. The advice put forth in this book has left a marked impression on influential and powerful rulers throughout history. Philosophers describe it as a textbook approach to politics, economics, and social sciences.
* This book is used as a study guide to Niccolò Machiavell's `The Prince`. The chapters within `The Prince` have been re-translated into a series of coded dots. Using a method of censorship The Prince has been re-translated through a process of chronologically eliminating the corresponding alphabetic letter to each chapter: the first chapter, all the A`s were marked out, in the second chapter all the B`s were marked out, this method would follow all the way to the final 26th chapter were all the Z`s were marked out. Thus creating an ABC connect the dots handbook for political, economic and social expediency.'
Artist, original author and fictitious author as producers
Exhibition notes: ABSA L'atelier 2014 (older version of the book shown)