Archaeology of Longing

With a title drawn from a short story by Susan Sontag, Archaeology of Longing (Archéologie de la Chine) was an exhibition that brought together a number of artworks, artifacts, and common objects collected while investigating disenchantment—a research that soon digressed through the historical flatlands of interpretation and substitution. Far from melancholic, and closer to what can be described as politically intimate, the exhibition was an inventory of that journey.

Archaeology of Longing took place at Kadist Art Foundation in Paris. The exhibition included live events taking place in Montmartre, like a performance by Emma Hedditch, a reading by Luca Frei, and several public programs. Video documentation of these, as well as related materials can be found here. In conjunction to the exhibition, 85 Handkerchiefs, An Umbrella and Some Books was published. It included a curatorial text, as well as inserts by some of the artists in the exhibition.