The open edition (available here) was first published for the London Art Book Fair 2012, Whitechapel Gallery, London.
Hoard: The Ethics of Acquisition is part of a body of work which examines pressing questions central to collecting practices and modes of display prevalent in European museums, specifically related to contested artefacts (i.e. illegally obtained and looted). ‘Hoard’ interrogates archaeology’s material and ideological practices. The book is densely populated with images of 700+ archaeological sites. All scientific information is suppressed and important source text, annotated photographs, artefacts and people are excluded from this re-composed, re-published edition. This process of clearing reflects archaeological methods of site analysis and excavation, resulting in empty landscapes and negative spaces. Through the process of sourcing and scanning images the library becomes a looted site.
The bookwork is featured in the article ‘Re-Imagining Archival Evidence’ written by Liz Orton, published in Trigger magazine ‘Uncertainty’, FOMU, Belgium (Nov 2020). Read here.
Hoard: The Ethics of Acquisition (2012)
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