The Rule of Superposition, A.M. Qattan Foundation. Curated by Emily Jacir, 2018.
This work subverts the violent use of the practice of archaeology in Jerusalem by mapping surfaces, relying on memory and spirit, and bringing viewers beneath the surface of the city to distort time and space. By shifting perspective, the Rule of Superposition (old on bottom new on top) and the assumed modern temporal grid of linear time are questioned.
The mapped surfaces rethink the city as a homogeneous object and reveal a heterogeneous network, a fabric of traces, that questions scientific processes and problematizes singular surface narratives constructed and censored by agencies of power. The traces are used as an access point to an alternative understanding of Jerusalem through its tactile ground. These traces, shown on the bottom surface, reveal a personal and emotional record of the city that rely on memory and spirit rather than a scientific method.
Archaeological ruins and monuments are rendered as recombined and reconfigured artefacts to disorient and distort the archaeological practice, thereby turning the “truth” on its head. The work reveals by tracing and excavating the ground of Jerusalem. The pure cartography presented on top acts as a pure blanket covering, or censoring, what lies beneath the ground. The installation brings the viewers from the aerial perspective of the enlightenment to subterranean levels as an act of excavation in itself.
