Looking down into a deep shaft excavation, the audience will discover the unexpected: where there should be evidence of our foundations, instead we find a city detached. // En regardant dans une excavation profonde, le public découvrira l'inattendu: là où il devrait y avoir des preuves de nos fondations, nous trouvons plutôt une ville.
Our city is at any moment in time a temporary construct, a ground for us to act out our individual and collective lives. Citizens are forever imagining and rebuilding identity over top of existing physical structures- over forest, camp, village, over old pottery, old statues.
Our colonial city is trying to authenticate its inhabitants' stories and self-image, serving a belief of rootedness. The cultural myth of belonging here and nowhere else is very convincing and powerful, but how rooted are we really? What do we see when we excavate? Will the archaeological layers reveal our past? Our roots?
Archaeology, excavation and treasure hunting are staples of popular culture and are fuelling the imagination of many. Our installation is designed to prepare the anticipation in the viewer of looking into the past by looking into the ground: an archaeological dig with layers of history- the physical proof of the past we imagine and assure ourselves is real.
Approaching our installation, the visitor will see a temporary enclosure reminiscent of a protected excavation or archaeological dig. The viewer will be enticed to enter the enclosed space and encounter a second enclosure giving off a subtle light from beneath. Drawn to the light emanating from a protected opening in the ground, visitors will approach and peer down a deep shaft.
The viewer will experience a physical reaction to the depth. The walls of the shaft will appear cut right through the dark layers of asphalt, gravel, fill and soil. But instead of leading ever deeper into cultural and geological past, the viewer will discover the unexpected.
