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Archaeology of engagement

Archaeology of engagement

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In 2001, MACBA invited the Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn (Bern, 1957) to create a work specifically for the Museum. The result was Archaeology of Engagement, a huge installation that remained on display in the Museum lobby for four months, simulating an archaeological site in the midst of the excavation process. These excavations were intended to disinter the philosophical, political, artistic and spiritual commitments that remain buried in our individual and collective consciousness.

Hirschhorn’s work can be described as the formal expression of his personal commitment in the form of large-scale ephemeral installations made out of poor materials and an original aesthetic of precariousness. For this work, the artist collaborated with the French writer Jean-Charles Massera, who produced 35 texts that merge fiction, history and politics in a series of narratives that ran parallel to those of the installation.

The Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona has invited the Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn (Bern, 1957) to create a work specifically for the MACBA. The result is now being presented under the title Archaeology of engagement. Hirschhorn's work could be defined as the formal realization of a personal commitment that has led him to address ethical and political issues which are materialized in large-scale ephemeral installations constructed from poor materials, with a highly original and characteristic aesthetic of the precarious. For this project Hirschhorn has worked in collaboration with the French writer Jean-Charles Masséra. Visitors will find the texts they have produced together, combining fiction and political and historical references, integrated into the installation.

Artist

Thomas Hirschhorn