Beginning work with Bill Rathje and David Platt on a paper for a special issue on archaeology and modernism for the journal Modernism/Modernity This is how we begin with the World Trade Center There is something profoundly archaeological about the experience of 9/11 and its aftermath. Less than a month after the attack a meeting…
ruins and remains
Photographing the archaeological
I notice a few recent books by photographers who are into abandonment and decay – me monitoring sensitivity to the archaeological, as usual. I particularly like ReadyMades: American Roadside Artifacts by Jeff Brouws. — here are some drive-in movie screens Pictures of old pickup trucks, abandoned gas stations (he has a lovely series in black…
end of empire?
Wallsend UK Roman fort at the end of Hadrian’s Wall. I dug here in 1975; I was 15 and I loved fieldwork. I remember the town the most. The site is right by Swann Hunter Shipbuilders, one of the big firms on the Tyne. My dad worked here – late 60s. Most of the old…
Heritage and urban myth
Gateshead UK – Baltic Center for Contemporary Art Dinner last night with Peter and Sue MacDonald; Helen of course too. The restaurant is at the top of the old flour mill on the quayside, though it looks like a grain silo. It’s now an arts center, 46 million quids worth. Lots of other development here…