| Title | 11. Tracing Histories |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | An Archaeological Approach |
| Contributor | Evelyn Wan(author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0469.11 |
| Landing page | https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0469/chapters/10.11647/obp.0469.11 |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Evelyn Wan |
| Publisher | Open Book Publishers |
| Published on | 2025-10-24 |
| Long abstract | This chapter addresses the act of tracing as an archaeological approach, to establish a ‘history of the present’ while reading a piece of artwork or performance. Tracing is the act of finding out how something has come to be, conceptually and materially. From its raw materials to its conditions of possibility to its conceptual lines of flight, tracing allows the contours of the cultural artefact under analysis to emerge. A contemporary artwork often poses and reflects upon an issue for the present time, which could be traced back historically to present a longer view of its contextualisation, in order to show historical continuations as well as contemporary permutations. Offering a genealogy of a concept or of an object, for instance, could help shed light on how to read the artwork at present. Foucauldian discussions of the archaeology of knowledge emphasises the epistemic conditions of possibility for a particular discourse. This chapter offers two examples of tracing: Singaporean dance artist Choy Ka Fai’s Postcolonial Spirits and Congolese visual artist Sammi Baloji’s ‘802. That is where, as you heard, the elephant danced the malinga. The place where they now grow flowers |
| Page range | pp. 229–246 |
| Print length | 18 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
Evelyn Wan is an artist-scholar and dramaturg. She is Assistant Professor in Media, Arts, and Society at the Department of Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht University, where she coordinates the MA Arts and Society programme and works on interdisciplinary curriculum innovation in the domain of Humane AI. Her award-winning research studies historical and contemporary emerging technologies through the lens of decolonial media studies and performance studies. She is the resident dramaturg of Hong Kong-based artistic collective If Time’s Limited. She currently serves on the Executive Board of Performance Studies international (PSi) and the Supervisory Board of TETEM (Enschede).