Fictitious Archaeology: The Museum as Promoter of Truth?

earth and sky is a recurrent theme of mine, a metaphor for disorder.In this installation the videotapehints at a horizon that is implied in the distance. But this horizon is never seen and it is this that generates the viewer’s urgency of expectation. Duringmy studyof the archaeologyof technologyat the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,the word “horizon”was often used in reference to a unification of peoples sharingcommon stylistic traits or employingsimilar technologies. I have chosen to transform this term for my own use and to imply with it a new unification of peopleswho are operating in the interestsof a larger humanecological character.My interest is to use the “horizon”to exemplify the transformation of our relationship with nature. The installationserves to represent the conceptuallimits that create dualworlds of nature and human being. The work also alludes to the metamorphosisof our conceptions to a point where all worlds become a coherent whole.The separation is, in fact,just another human construction . come to somefixed point of tranquility, is whatfinally leads the viewer awayfrom the interminablepassage through the video landscape.When the viewer’s attention moves away from the video monitor, it is the copper object glowing in the distance that draws attention.This house-likeicon is framedfrom thisvantage point by the 7-ft-square steel barricade that, although remaininga physical obstruction to passage toward the object, contains a cone-shapedsurface that recedesfrom the viewer and funnels the viewer’svision to the icon beyond.The viewer now has twomethodsof approach.From each side of the barricade , a corridor is defined.On one side I delineate this corridorwith the unbroken length of the steel mesh, an impos ing, constructedbarrier. On the other side the steel mesh barricade is broken only to be replaced by a large tangle of brush and fallen branches, a natural obstruction,which is no less an impediment to one’spassage. Together they portray an enigma that envelops the cop per object. Thishouse-likeicon isthe viewer’s “goldentemple.”It enshrinesthe aggregateof conceptsgermaneto home,community and civilization that each of us brings with us. On both physical and metaphoricallevels the house and itsbrilliantsurfaceunite the spheresof humanity and name. In resolvingto navigate the This quest to find the horizon, to F i g .3. IraMarom, l hModernMuseum ? f T - & Cologne,Germany, i n s t a l l a t i o n ,1992. Thepmpagationof thisnewlyproedarchaeological discoveryissupportedby imaginaryscie n t i f i cstudies, symbolsa dillustrat i o n s . claimedandfabricatmaze of barriers,with the goal of reaching the lit house, the spectatorsymbolii callyconfrontsour labyrinthine impressions of nature,which up until now have isolated us from it. With aview fixed upon the copper surface of the solit a r yicon,one findsdirection.In conclusion ,it isduring the explorationof this psychic boundarythat one can approach a meaningfulecology, andwithin the structureof the house-and the light that emanatesfkom it-that one finds spiritualconsummation. FICTITIOUS ARCHAEOLOGY: THEMUSEUM AS PROMOTER OFTRUTH? Ira Marom,Gottesweg 171,D-5000 Cologne41, Germany. Received 30Apnll992. Accqbtedforpublication by RogerF. Malina. Europe’s art metropolis-Cologneand her local patriots recently celebrated the opening of museum number 18 in their city. The Modern Museum of TransientArt opened its doors to the public in November 1992with an exhibit displaying“thesensationalfindingsof the excavationsconducted by Dr.James Rupert Soul.”The “museum”is located in a house under which was “discovered “the villa of Bedayano,a Roman priestlyfamily. MeyapolisScarlimedis,who was commissioned to build the temple honoring the Roman goddess,Diana,is believed also to be the founder of the Bedayano dynasty in Cologne. The centerpieceof the exhibit is the villa’ssupportingwall, where nine beautifully preserved panels illustratingvariouswild catswere uncovered. These drawingsare considered by Dr. Soul to be the emblemsof the family’shouse goddess,Diana. The propagationof this newly proclaimed and fabricatedarchaeological discoveryis supported by imaginaryscientificstudies ,symbols and illustrations (Fig.3).The information panels and glassenclosed showcases,which display householditems of the Bedayanos, are designed for the museum visitor to reflect on his/her own identitythrough the fiction of the simulatedmuseum. The artistswho make up the MaybeIs Good Productionsgroupview the museum as a manifestationof society’sefforts to channeland shapeits (society’s)identity in desireddirections.Theparticipation of museumsin this manipulative process becomes evidentwhen one comprehendsthe feelings...