Let’s Archive Archaeological Archives
Venue
National Museum of Prehistory
Year
2018
Location
Taitung, Taiwan
Ｍaterial
Plan table, woodcut, carton, graph paper, carbon paper, clay, glass for iPhone, aluminum ladder, slate
In the huge archive database of the National Taiwan Museum of Prehistory, a found footage of excavation action recorded by Hi8 camera once upon a time was discovered by the duo Working Hard.
A sudden event was pictured through the moving images at a certain moment.
However, due to the limited former videography, it led the occurrence to the blurring memory. This vacancy urged them eagerly to re-archaeologising, restoration, and rehabilitation of archaeology. They have repeatedly ‘rewinding' at the occasion of archeological excavation toward forwarding. These interrupted continuous reading images and material space disclose the multiple auxiliaries through the action of replay. By leaning in the direction of the incident and measuring in the various circumstances, another concrete scene is constituted. Paradoxically, the act of reveal barely has aids toward one’s comprehension of the eventuality; on the contrary, it brings up a spectrum of the value scope. Why did cultural relics become cultural relics? With identity and value? As time or human beings? In pursuit of one’s own identity, the underground archive is endowed with a layer of new meaning?
Photo © Working Hard.