ARCHEOLOGY
OF THE PRESENT
Electronic Investigation of La Rue Guénégaud
GALERIE
GERMAIN, PARIS
MAY 1973
This
works forces the public to confront conventional distinctions between
past and present; inside and outside; spectator, participant and
object. A video camera installed outside the gallery provides continuous
live video footage of the adjacent street, which is displayed on
closed-circuit monitors inside the gallery under the puzzling caption
“In those days, la rue Guénégaud was….”
Simultaneous live video footage of the inside of the gallery is
displayed on a monitor in the gallery’s outside display window.
Items salvaged from trashcans in the street are displayed like archeological
artifacts. Expert commentary is provided by Vilém Flüsser,
Pierre Restany, and René Berger.