Artistic Practices and Archaeological Research

Abstract

The intersection of art and archaeology is a fertile area ripe for exploration. It offers a huge range of possibilities and approaches, ranging from aspects of process, materiality, abstraction, craft... the list goes on. As such, it is always exciting to see a new volume with contributors from varied disciplinary backgrounds adding to the conversation. An awareness of working through and with creative processes has the potential to open up exciting new avenues of research. This volume began life as a conference session at the World Archaeology Conference (WAC) in Kyoto, 2016. As such, the list of contributors is refreshingly international, drawing on a range of experience and case studies. It is within these individual papers that many of the really interesting ideas lie. The first to pick up on, is the way in which creative processes can be used as modes of ‘thinking with’ or ‘thinking through’ different materials and techniques. This is explored by Fahlander in his camparison of graffiti on the shutters of shops in Stockholm with Bronze Age rock art located north of the city. He approaches this comparative discussion through the idea of ‘horizontal stratigraphy’; studying how a different markings and designed are layered between one another on a flat surface. This provides him with a fascinating drawing board through which to explore the notion of how images collect on a material over time (be it the shutter or a rock face), how we can see aspects of individual artists in these, the notion of the material or space as an integral part of the process, and to what extent these images or marks represent statements or symbols. In his curiosity of the creative process as a visual and social form, he creates a narrative that is both imaginative and informative. This was echoed in Wei’s chapter on epigraphy in the landscape, where calligraphic forms are found carved into rock faces in China transforming notions of scale and context. Here too we see an investigation of process probing at the nature of meaning in these forms: When do they transform from a collection of letters, words and symbols to what might be termed ‘land art’? Eroding the distinction between ‘art’ and ‘archaeology’ is where the most interesting commentaries emerge. Mármol Martínez’s piece on creativity within archaeological practice reflects on the relationships and perceived boundaries between archaeology/art/creativity/anthropology. He considers modes of interaction, reflecting upon the difference that thinking through things and going beyond visual modes can bring to archaeological thought. What is pleasing about this piece is its consideration of construction and destruction, giving thoughtful space to material processes of research at a variety of scales. Another chapter that captures these imaginative realms is Otte and Lemmen’s chapter on ‘Art and Thought’. What comes across here is the excitement of discovery; the delight of making contact with the past through materials. Materials are investigated in a number of interesting ways throughout the book. In Back Danielsson’s piece on gold foil figures from Scandanavia, she explores how these objects are an ‘entanglement of material practices’ that are continuously in the process of ‘becoming’. The objects are agents in a complex web of human and non-human actions, connecting maker and material. This relationship is also explored in Samuelsen’s reflection on the human body and stone. He uses his art practice to draw out the core stony character within a boulder, to delve into the mineral beat of the material in order to communicate the untouched or unseen. In