Artists Connecting Archaeologists: Encountering the Third Kind

Abstract

Archaeologists excavate sites and objects from the past and then write about them; while artists create, and invent objects or situations in the present. These are usually seen as two radically different relations to time and materiality. It is well known that archaeology is an interwoven field of knowledge and practices that generates fascination for the public. Archaeology fuels the public imagination by bringing objects that originate in distant places and times into circulation within contemporary life. Such objects focus thoughts toward a multitude of topics, including: origins, the past, identity and long-lost mysterious places. I have noticed several times while I was excavating different sites, how some archaeologists can develop a feeling of possession toward the past: this old and strange land they are digging belongs to them and for them no one else seems to be able to write about it. They would consider the past to be the domain of their professional work and find it difficult to view the role of contemporary creative work within that domain, especially when artists would consider the past with mockery and derision.