Editorial

Audio Tour: The Way of the Shovel

The Way of the Shovel re-imagines the art world as an alternative “History Channel” that is as concerned with remembering histories as it is with challenging their truthfulness. Hear from artists, archeologists, sociologists, and more to uncover the meaning behind some of the works on view.

Installation view, The Way of the Shovel: Art as Archaeology, MCA Chicago, Nov 9, 2013–Mar 9, 2014.

Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

1: Exhibition overview by Manilow Senior Curator Dieter Roelstraete

2: Pamela Bannos, on Shifting Grounds: Block 21 and Chicago's MCA

3: Joachim Koester, on Passaic Seems Full of Holes

4: Mark Dion, on Concerning the Dig

­5: Archaeologist Jack Green, on the tools of the trade

6: Mariana Castillo Deball, on Uncomfortable Objects

7: Susanne Kriemann, on A Silent Crazy Jungle Under Glass

8: Susanne Kriemann, on in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni (work cyclus)

9: Sociologist David Schalliol, on the financial crisis of 2008

10: Scott Hocking, on Rusty Sputnik

11: Sociologist David Schalliol, on Detroit's socio-economic conditions

12: Sociologist David Schalliol, on the Steel Belt and local activism

13: Joachim Koester, on Message from Andrée

14: Sociologist David Schalliol, on the effects of the housing crisis in Chicago

15: Joachim Koester, on Some Boarded-Up Houses (Chicago)

16: Psychoanalyst Nancy Burke, on Sigmund Freud

17: Psychoanalyst Nancy Burke, on Freud's antiquities collection

­18: Psychoanalyst Nancy Burke, on Freud's office

19: Psychoanalyst Nancy Burke, on Freud and memory

20: Rebecca Keller, on her installation

21: Psychoanalyst Nancy Burke, on Freud and archaeology

22: Archaeologist Jack Green, on art and archaeology

23: Michael Rakowitz, on The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist

24: Archaeologist Jack Green, on the looting of Iraq's National Museum

25: Mariana Castillo Deball, on It rises or falls depending on whether you're coming or going. If you are leaving, it's uphill; but as you arrive it's downhill

26: Archaeologist Jack Green, on burial archaeology

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