Exempted / Undtaget
Early in 2019, Tim Flohr Sørensen (at the University of Copenhagen) contacted a number of Danish culture historical museums with archaeological responsibility, asking them to donate an object for his exhibition series. Tim informed them that the object might be depleted during the exhibition. Museum Southeast Denmark donated a soil sample, which is the material being exhibited in the November edition of Tim’s Insignificants exhibit series. The museum had mislaid information about the finding place and context of the sample, so they considered it unusable and dispensable. Later, they added that they are not even sure it is a soil sample; it might just be plain dirt, bagged in a bulk sample bag, and used to weigh down a tarpaulin cover at an excavation.
To accompany each of his monthly Insignificants exhibits, Tim creates a bookmark. While you will find an image of the one that he made for Exempted / Undtaget, the text is repeated here.
“One cannot avoid muddy thinking when it comes to earth projects”
(Robert Smithson)
Extract: 2.5Y 6/2 Light Brownish Grey
Dig up: 10YR 7/4 Very Pale Brown
Secure: 5YR 7/1 Light Grey
Take away: 0N/00 Light While Pale Grey
Remove: 01G 0/01 Very Cloud Grey
Exempt: --B 9/9 Completely Dark Black
“Information about spot and context seems to be lost.
Presumably disappeared during transport”, wrote the inspector.
“Hence, the sample cannot be used for scientific purposes”
“What do we do then?”, asked the intern.
“Follow the usual procedure”, the inspector answered,
“throw it out”.
“Okay”, the intern yawned. “We might do that just as well.
Are we done now?”
The Five Archaeological Theses:
1) Never look back
2) Do not search for context
3) Do not fill the void
4) Takes things at face value
5) Expect no understanding
To see other installations from Insignificants, follow these links:
For more information about Tim and his work, check out these links:
