Disrupting Archaeology and Art

There is a long history of interaction and collaboration between artist and archaeologist. However, recent provocative work in the field, studio, museum and gallery, has opened new possibilities for radical alliances and creations. Disrupting Archaeology and Art presents the work and conversation of an archaeologist and a contemporary painter who have moved into experimental territories beyond the traditional boundaries of their disciplines. This book presents detailed descriptions of six important works made by the authors.

Doug Bailey’s aim is to change the ways that archaeologists engage with the materials of the past. His montages, films, and performance destructions (such as Releasing the Archive) undermine traditionally unquestioned tenets of archaeological action and of the conservation and preservation of artefacts and ancient remains. In Disrupting Archaeology and Art, Bailey describes his reasoning and methods of making three of his more provocative works.

Simon Callery sets out to find new forms and functions for landscape-based painting. His contact paintings, pit paintings and large-scale sculptural work (Trench 10) produced in direct response to archaeological excavations in England and Wales, provoke significant debate over issues of time, image, and materiality. In Disrupting Archaeology and Art, Callery presents detailed accounts of how and why the excavation site has shaped his thinking and ambitions for contemporary painting.

This book is a conversation between two iconoclasts, placing a first-hand, makers’ views of the creative process, within a wider dialogue about how artists and archaeologists respond to their shared themes of originality, time, authorship and meaning.

Author Biography

Doug Bailey is Professor of Visual Archaeology at San Francisco State University, USA. He is the author of Prehistoric Figurines (2005), Unearthed (2010) and Breaking the Surface (2018). He has directed excavations in Bulgaria and Romania, and has curated exhibitions at the International Museum Contemporary Sculpture, Portugal (2020) and Carpintarias Saõ Lázaro, Portugal (2021). He is an established expert in the archaeology of art and the prehistoric archaeology of Europe.

Simon Callery is an artist based in London, UK. He has exhibited internationally since the 1990s and has worked alongside field archaeologists since 1996. His work has been shown in the UK at the Saatchi Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, Tate Britain, and the British Museum. Museum group shows include the following: Brooklyn Museum, New York; Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou; Rudolfinum, Prague; and the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome. Recent solo gallery shows include Lo Brutto Stahl (Paris), Unosunove (Rome), Rafael Perez Hernando (Madrid), and Annex 14 (Zurich).