Modernism Archaeology :

Modernism Archaeology

An archaeological excavation took place in May, 2012, at the square in front of Henie Onstad Kunstsenter. This excavation concerned an oak tree that had been presented to HOK´s first director Ole Henrik Moe by Joseph Beuys. This tree was later removed. The excavation project, called Modernism Archaeology, dug out the remains of the root of that tree, which was given the nickname ”Joseph.”

The method of some of modernism´s most prominent thinkers could be described as a kind of archaeological practice, between Walter Benjamin and Aby Warburg´s deep historical drilling and Sigmund Freud´s analytic approach to uncovering the human psyche. In Modernism Archaeology, this metaphor of archaeology is transferred back to its original meaning: the physical examination of earth.

The oak tree, planted on the small traffic island in front of the main entrance of HOK in connection with Joseph Beuys exhibitions in the 1980s, was the center of the investigation. This tree was not part of the 7000-oaks project of Documenta in 1985, but a personal gift from Joseph Beuys to HOK. Today, the tree is no longer there, but in connection with the exhibition MoDERNISM MACHINE, the root of the tree, or the fragments still left of it, was dug out and presented inside the museum building together with the video work documenting the activity on the excavation site.

The excavation was a collaboration with a landscape gardener and scientific conservationists: a central element of the project was the technical conservation of the root and the analysis of the soil, which provided basic information on the nutrition value of the soil of the region, relating the local situation to the international Art Centre. The excavated material and the documentary video was exhibited in vitrines originally used by Beuys, relating to his understanding of production, economic value and ecological issues.

The dig represents a physical parallel to MoDERNISM MACHINE´s dig in the Art Centre’s collection and the archives, while the transfer of the root from outside to inside of the building extends the architects Eikvar and Engebretsen’s concept for HOK as a negotiation of the border between inside and out. Modernism Archaeology is now part of the permanent collection of Henie Onstad Kunstsenter.

Dag Erik Elgin

Modernism Archaeology: Henie Onstad Kunstsenter 2012