Object #001-#009 - Stefanie Langaa  

In her digital exhibition Upcycling Prehistory, Stefanie Langaa ponders the human capacity to project value and meaning onto objects, and how significance and signification might be altered. Through photo documentation, Object #001 - #009 portrays the surfaces and natural patina of seven flint flakes selected from a larger body of unprovenanced. processed flint. This material was in the custody of a culture historical museum in Denmark, but the museum decided to decommission the material from its collection. Hence, the material was subject to discard and hereby severed from formal cultural or historical value. In Danish archaeological jargon, material such as this is often referred to as “flint trash”.  

Stefanie has initiated a process of reassessment by documenting and exhibiting unique features of the details of this flint trash through artistic renditions. In doing so, she reflects on and invites questions about the purpose and value of these particular objects. If not of cultural or historical value, then what? Is it possible, at all, to deprive these objects of their inherent cultural value, having been made by human beings approximately 6000 years ago?

In the present, can this prehistoric trash in fact be treasure?

As part of her research, Langaa explores the saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” in a most literal manner. She describes her reflexive approach as follows:

“I have chosen to put my photo prints up for auction. This involves not only my own subjective musings on evaluation, but also yours, and thus it generates a more transparent and hopefully ambiguous outcome of my process of speculation.”

With a profound devotion to archaeology in all its conventional meaning and consequence, Stefanie is confident that the profession holds myriad possibilities for reflection and communication. According to her, the key to working with an open mind in archaeology is mainly a question of challenging, expanding, and interrogating the ways in which we define our professional influence.  

Stefanie is auctioning her work. Further details with be found on her webpage:

http://upcyclingprehistory.com/index.php/upcycling-prehistory/silent-auction/