Suvi Tuominen
Fathers of Science is an ongoing screenshot, snapchat, instagram and skype fantasy where I encounter my fathers of archaeology in digital space. In this project I have appropriated archival material such as for example Animal, Vegetable, Mineral featuring Gordon Childe, Sir Mortimer Wheeler and Sean P O Riordain from 1956 (screened originally by BBC, now found on Youtube). I have used different snapchat and instagram filters in order to create a ghost-like avatar presence for these characters who I consider to be my fathers in the science of archaeology. We chat together, send heart emojis and talk about research with each other during our fantasy skype calls.  

With this project, I want to observe the ways in which digitality has become an essential part of the practice of archaeology today and how research also actualises in blurry digital spaces such as social media (facebook, instagram, twitter...). The project also critically comments the current trend of constructing dead-bodies and ancient landscapes in, for example, virtual reality, and how these practices are without hesitation used as a means in popularising archaeology.  Read also 
Avatars, Monsters, and Machines: A Cyborg Archaeology by Colleen Morgan (2019) 

Pictures by Suvi Tuominen
Filters: Snapchat & KEIKEN
In the pictures: Gordon Childe & Sir Mortimer Wheeler
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