Can You Dig It?

The Can You Dig It? project asked the following question: “What happens when artists engage with an archaeological excavation?”. In response, a group of ten MFA students from the Academy Valand in Gothenburg, Sweden, developed a laboratory exhibition as a way to approach fieldwork as an artistic method. The focus of the project was the excavations of the town of Nya Lödöse (dating from 1473-1624), a part of the larger archaeological investigations required as a result of the major transformations in 2013 of Gamlestaden in Gothenburg which included the construction many new buildings, a public transport hub, walkways, bike lanes, and other components that transformed the urban landscape. The 2013 fieldwork in Gamlestaden was the largest urban archaeological excavation ever undertaken in West Sweden; details about the Nya Lödöse excavations are available online (http://www.stadennyalodose.se/nya-lodose/).

Taking the dig site Nya Lödöse as a starting point, the artists interacted with history, identity, and ethics through their artistic practices. The juxtaposition of science and art invited new ways of seeing for both the artists and the scientific community. Students visited the excavation and then worked in their studios on themes and questions related to what they experienced. At the end of the project, an exhibition space was established where the project hosted a series of events with invited speakers, performance artists and musicians, and which enabled dialogue across the fields of archaeology, contemporary art, and poetry.

Can You Dig It? was conducted at the University of Gothenburg within the Academy of fine Art Valand and in association with the Department of Historical Studies as a part of the NEARCH project which was supported by the European Commission (2013-2018) in its culture program. Conducted by the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP), the NEARCH project, was a European-wide cooperation network of 16 partners from 10 countries; the project aimed to explore the varying dimensions of public participation in contemporary archaeology and bring new ways of working and collaborating. One of the five main themes in the project was Imagining - Archaeology and the imaginary: crossroads between science and art. Further information about NEARCH and the Imaginary theme can be found art this website, http://www.nearch.eu/imagining.

To follow the processes and events of Can You Dig It?, follow this link:

https://canyoudigitohyeah.tumblr.com/

Participating artists:

Behjat Omer Abdulla, Sara Anstis, Rachel Barron, Bianca Basan, Rose Borthwick, Andreas Engman, Sylvia Javén, Katxerê Medina, Josefine Östberg Olsson, and Gabriella Pettersson.

Curator and Main supervisor (Valand): Jason Bowman

Supervisor (Department of Historical Studies): Anita Synnestvedt

Art/artistic output of several of the Can You Dig It? participants will be found among the Featured Projects of artarchaeologies.com

Behjat Omer Abdulla

Sara Anstis

Rose Borthwick

Katxerê Medina