Arabella Mayrer BFA Intermedia Thesis Spring 2018

An Excavation A shooting star The Four Figures

As a researcher of myth, archeology, and museum practice this work is an investigation of where all these things cross in the contemporary. A lost but new map. My work is based on navigating these questions, and searching for the answers in the contemporary art world: How do we create a museum? How do I flirt with history? How do we define what an artifact is?

For my thesis I constructed a fiction in which an excavation took place giving you what is shown in the gallery today. Displacing the viewer by creating a museum setting in installing objects as artifacts, I wanted to bring up the question of who curates history.

In the construction of this work my goal was to displace the viewer through creating my own museum. I wanted this space to exist as a hybrid of both a historical and contemporary space, using a combination of objects fabricated in a historical matter as well as futuristic ones. I wanted to recognize how significant archeology is to not only history and identity, but the art world both historically and modern.

Going forward, I want to expand on this body of work with the goal of one day being able to construct a building in which this history can exist. I can see different objects separating from the body, displayed as being apart of this collection as well. The donation box, which sits under the vinyl on the front wall, I also imagine living with any piece that shows away from the rest.

49 albums

Spring 2018