SITUATIONS

Art intervention at the archaeological excavation site C4 in Arendal, Norway

SITUATIONS is a collaboration between artist Nina Torp, E18-prosjektet Tvedestrand–Arendal and the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. The project is supported by the Museum of Cultural History, Arts Council Norway, the Norwegian Visual Artists Remuneration Fund and Norsk Fotografisk Fond.

Over a period of six months in 2015 and 2016, Nina Torp accompanied the excavation work of a group of archaeologists at the Museum of Cultural History. In her project SITUASJONER she looks into the archaeologists' scientific methods and processes which are being used to excavate traces from the Mesolithic and Neolithic Era in the south of Norway. Her art project is research into the mechanisms of how cultural history evolves.

A frame, or a frame of reference, is a pattern of beliefs, perceptions and values that human beings use to reason for an interpretation (conception, opinion) of what we find. To get a new perspective, one can choose to take a step back and assess the frame, or the lens, where this reality evolves. Subsequently one can consider alternative lenses and challenge one's interpretations or convictions. To change the frame's properties can alter the significance of what one finds. This applies to both art and archaeology.