Dirt (by Sara Anstis)
[composition: earth from archaeological excavation and binder, 15 x 6 cm, 2016]
Digging in the soil is an activity driven by desire. In an excavation behind Göteborgs Konsthall (Sweden), Sara Anstis, other artists, and archaeologists dug using tools and their gloved hands in pursuit of what was hidden in the ground. The site they worked on was the previous location of the art school in Gothenburg, the Akademin Valand.
Some searched methodically through the various layers, while others made quick deep holes and stopped only when making an important find: a shard of porcelain or an old Coke can. The finds were either categorized and placed in boxes, or quietly disappeared into someone’s jacket pocket.
The sculpture Anstis created in response to this activity, Dirt, is made from the soil cast aside during the excavation. It is a small monument to how the shovel breaks in and out of the earth and about what each person wants to find.
More information about Sara and her work can be found through these links:
@sara.anstis
Anstis made Dirt within the larger 2016 project A Place Forgotten By Many organized by Anita Synnestvedt in Gothenburg (Sweden). More information about that project will be found here:
https://konsthallen.goteborg.se/utstallningar/forjaga_bristen_pa_sammanhang/en-plats-glomd-av-manga/
Dirt (2016): image copyright Sara Anstis