Archeology
Archeology
Grand Prix at 57th 'Octavio Podestá' National Visual Arts Prize Uruguay
2016
Despite the anachronism represented by the supposed archaeological find, the abundant supporting documentation and its presentation in a museum context provide sufficient legitimacy to reflect on what we know about the culture of our territory's native nations and provoke reactions that could become viral in another environment.
In these times, defined as the "information age", internet is replete with false information and the mass media outlets that present biased or fragmented content according to their political interests or market conveniences. How much are we willing to believe? How many lies have we accepted as real without even questioning them?
The art installation tells a story through documentary evidence.
Pictures of an archaeological excavation, location plans and press releases are presented, stating that during 1968 a piece containing geometrical pictograms was found at Cerro Largo department (Uruguay).
Other documents of the same period are displayed: paper notebooks containing drawings, study pictures, publications in books and specialized magazines, that review the discovery and make cross references with other objects and fragments with similar designs found within the region.
The reviews state that the main finding shows a decipherable code from an unknown culture, and that the piece belongs to a private collector, thus making it inaccessible for study, and that no similar findings have come to light since then.
The piece is shown together with an auction catalog offering it for sale, that took place in New York in 1994, and is displayed along with a fax copy of the purchase auction receipt.
Eloísa Ibarra, 2016.
