PointofOrigin.
POINT OF ORIGIN - 2022
CONCEPT
This publication began as an exploration into the idea of the museum and its provided informative texts as a highly receptive space open to the fabrication of an imagined historical identity through the conscious and calculated selection and presentation of artefacts and information that serve to forge a one-sided narrative that is unchallenged and unquestioned given the presumed authority of the museum as an institution.
My following research on this topic then led me to further explore the idea of the ways in which people interact with historical and archaeological exhibition, raising questions surrounding the meaning of an ‘artefact’, predominantly how and by whom the value and significance of a given artefact is determined.
This further led into an investigation into the idea of the pseudo artefact and false accounts of archaeological sites and their histories.
I began to follow a path of manipulated historical narratives that are created in attempts to conceive an imagined representation of past events that are intrinsically tied to attitudes of enforced nationalism and colonialism. Following the proposition that historical institutions have the ability to aid in processes of historical forgery, The strong federal desire to justify histories of imperial aggression and invasion and compulsion for a nation to claim that their ancestors were the first to arrive and build upon a new land and develop advanced technologies drives forward the formulation of historical conspiracy.
Abstracted theories of extraterrestrial involvement in the building of early civilizations and their heritage sites is what became a central theme in the development of this exploratory publication. In response to this the reader is presented with a pseudo narrative, invited to attempt to connect with and familiarise themselves with the vestiges of a past society in the same way that they would in a museum exhibition, reaching for a sense of understanding and cognition of the ancient practices and cultures of their ancestors and further seeking out the true origin of our species and how we came to be.
PRODUCTION & FORMALISATION
(process)
The production process of this zine involved the generation of a series of pseudo artefacts and imagined heritage sites made using Photoshop and Blender software applications intended to create the impression of an archival publication that serves to inform the reader of remnants of a past society and the remains of their civilization through images of ruins and significant artefacts from their time. However the presented images are produced entirely through the digital manipulation of alienated textures and forms with no true historical origin, therefore each presented artefact is siteless and nomadic, creating an entirely false narrative that the reader is left to discover themselves upon further examination of the provided text.
(text)
The presented bodies of text that can be deciphered through the use of the provided language key given at the beginning of the publication. This fictional lexicon acts as an aid in helping the reader to uncover the fallacy of the provided narrative. The fictitious text is indirectly derived from the Beith-luis-nin (Ogham) cipher text founded in early Christian Ireland in fourth century CE of which the origin is still unknown. However it is hypothesised by anthropologists Carney and MacNeill that Ogham was first created by Gaulish Druids as a cryptic alphabet in response to political, military and religious conflicts as a private form of communication so that those with knowledge of just Latin could not read it. The produced alphabet uses a similar format and composition using alien characters that can be translated back into English, informing the reader that the presented images are in fact fake and that they should not trust the presented narrative and are urged to further question and examine what is presented to them
(final production/composition)
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softback publication printed in A5 format, perfect bound binding method
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52 pages ; 48 image compositions , 4 bodies of text
RESEARCH & REFERENCES
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Joan Fontcubersa (La Sirena, 2002)/(Sputnik, 2009)/Pin Zhuang (2004)
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Nastassja Simensky, Temporal School of Experimental Geography (SHERDS: Five Verses on Six Sacks of Earth 2018-2020)
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Odani Motohiko
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Zhao Meng
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Don Simpson
