Beyond metaphor: archaeology as a social and artistic practice

Abstract

This article summarises recent work on the engagement between art and archaeology, but seeks to embed this in a longer history of archaeology as a metaphor for other cultural and social practices, and at the same time to compare the ways in which archaeologists and other practitioners operate within the field of cultural production.

Different expressions of the same mode: a recent dialogue between archaeological and contemporary drawing practices

“…Intersecting archaeological and artistic practices in cultural production, and their mutually fruitful engagement with the material and how they each represent the world, are increasingly the subject of critical appraisal (e.g. Renfrew 2003;Renfrew, Gosden and DeMarrais 2004;Beale et al 2013;Russell and Cochrane 2014;Chittock and Valdez-Tullett 2017;Ferraby 2017;Smith 2017). Our point of departure is taken from philosopher Matthew Crawford's stimulating book, The World Beyond Your Head: How to Flourish in an Age of Distraction, in which he argues convincingly for the importance of fostering 'ecologies of attention'; the skill of paying attention to what is important.…”