ARF Brownbag

Art/archaeology: a space beyond explanation - the Ineligible Project
Lecture: ARF Brownbag | September 18 | 12-1 p.m. | 101 2251 College (Archaeological Research Facility)
Speaker: Doug Bailey, Professor of Visual Archaeology, San Francisco State University
Sponsor: Archaeological Research Facility
In a series of recent publications, Professor Bailey has urged archaeologists to seek a new space in which to work, a space that exists beyond the boundaries of archaeology and of art practice and art history. In that call, Doug has defined an art/archaeology that follows three steps: the disarticulation of an artifact from its (pre)historic context and value; the repurposing of that artifact as a raw material to be used in the creation of new work; and the engagement of that new work in contemporary social and political issues and debate. In this seminar, Doug will present the results of his current art/archaeology project, Ineligible, in which he took artifacts from the excavations that preceded the construction of the Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco, sent them to artists, archaeologists, and creators around the world, and then asked them to repurpose the artifacts as raw materials with which they should make work of political and social impact. The works that are now emerging for Ineligible will be installed at the International Museum of Contemporary Sculpture in Portugal from March to June 2020 in the exhibition Creative (un)makings: disruptions in art/archaeology curated by Professor Bailey and Portuguese sculptor Sara Navarro.