Keywords
mockumentary
science
art
myth
collecting
archaeology
How to Cite
Number of views: 546
Number of downloads: 255
Abstract
The most important element of Damien Hirst's multimedia project "Treasures from the Wreck of Unbelivable" was the exhibition, presented from April 9 to December 3, 2017 in Venice, in the galleries of the Pinault Foundation in Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi. It was completed by several book publications and a 90-minute film of the same title, made available globally on the Netflix online platform on January 1, 2018. The exhibition included over a hundred objects, mainly sculptures, made in various techniques and materials in a wide range of sizes. The film, stylized as a popular science documentary, presents the fictional story of their discovery and exploration at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, and their transport to Venice. It develops the main idea of the exhibition – a fictitious vision of the origin of these objects from an ancient wreck, filled with artistic collections, belonging to a fabulously rich ancient Roman freedman, with the significant name Cif Amotan II (anagram from “I am a fiction”). Realizing this fancy artistic vision, most of the works were made as if they had been damaged by the sea waves and overgrown with corals and other marine organisms. Hirst created a comprehensive and all-encompassing narrative using the principle of "voluntary suspension of unbelief," formulated by Samuel T. Coleridge. The artist sets himself and the viewer on a fantastic journey into the ancient past, taking up subjects central to his ouevre for decades: faith, relations of art and science, transience and death. He does this by means of numerous references to the artistic and mythological heritage of antiquity, not only Graeco-Roman, but also of other great cultures and civilizations.
Although the formal and technical aspects of the project will also be discussed, the main goal of the author is to analyze how Hirst used the knowledge of antiquity (classics) to create both the exhibition itself and the mockumentary. The artist made archeology an element binding his narrative together, showing in the film not only how artefacts were obtained from the bottom of the ocean. He also presented a number of tasks that scientists deal with at various stages of the project – from the first discovery, through interpretation and conservation, to the presenting at the museum-like exhibition. Of course, his purpose was not to create a study in the methodology of underwater exploration, but to reflect on the cognitive power of science examining remains of ancient times. By juxtaposing two possible attitudes towards relics of the past, i.e. the strict discipline of the scholar and the imagination of the treasure hunter, he concludes that narratives arising from them will both have the character of a mythical tale. The ontic status of the artefacts themselves, as the things of the past, left in a fragmentary state by the passage of time, sets all the stories related to them within the discourse of faith.
References
Ajootian A., Praxiteles, w: Personal Styles in Greek Sculpture, red. O. Palagia, J.J. Pollitt, Cambridge 1996, s. 91–129
The Alexander Romance in Persia and the East, red. R. Stoneman, K. Erickson, I. Netton, Groningen 2012
Anderson R.G.W. et al., Enlightning the British: Knowledge, discovery and the museum in the eighteenth century, London 2003
Archaeology and Capitalism, red. Y. Hamilakis, P. Duke, Walnut Creek 2007
Bagnall R.S., Reading Papyri, Writing Ancient History, London 1995
Barnett S., Rhetoric’s Nonmodern Constitution: Techne, Phusis, and the Production of Hybrids, w: Thinking with Bruno Latour in Rhetoric and Composition, red. P. Lynch, N. Rivers, Carbondale, IL, 2014, s. 81–96
Becatti G., Il culto di Ercole ad Ostia, „Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma” 1938–1939, 67, s. 37–60
Bennett J., The enchantment of modern life: Attachments, crossings, and ethics, Princeton 2001
Bennett T., Pasts Beyond Memory: Evolution, Museums, Colonialism, London–New York 2004
Bethenod M., Preface, w: D. Hirst et al., Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, London 2017, s. 7
Bianchi Bandinelli R., Archeologia klasyczna jako historia sztuki, tłum. i posłowie W. Dobrowolski, Warszawa 1988
Boin D.R., A Hall for Hercules at Ostia and a Farewell to the Late Antique “Pagan Revival”, „American Journal of Archaeology” 2010, 2(114), s. 253–266
Bol P.C., Die Skulpturen des Schiffsfundes von Antikythera, Berlin 1972
Borges J.L., Oscar Wilde, Kwiat Coleridge’a, Sen Coleridge’a, „Więź” 1990, 2–3, s. 118–125
Borges J.L., Narrative Art and Magic, w: idem, Selected non-fictions, New York–London 1999, s. 75–82
Boysen B., The embarrassment of being human: A critique of new materialism and object-oriented ontology, „Orbis Litterarum” 2018, 73, s. 225–242
Brillowski W., Zbytek, status, znawstwo. O kolekcjonerstwie sztuki greckiej w Rzymie u schyłku republiki i w początkach pryncypatu, w: Zbytek i ubóstwo w starożytności i średniowieczu, red. L. Kostuch, E. Ryszewska, Kielce 2010, s. 161–171
Calchi Novati G., Staging the Wreck of the Unbelievable. Performing ideology: Imaginary surplus, alienation and anxiety, „Performance Research” 2019, 5(24), s. 21–26
Calligas P.G., Statue of a Young Athlete, w: Mind and Body: Athletic Contests in Ancient Greece, red. O. Tzachou-Alexandri, Athens 1989, s. 179–180
Carlson D.N., Caligula’s Floating Palaces, „Archaeology” 2002, 3(55), s. 26–31
Choat S., Science, Agency and Ontology: A Historical-Materialist Response to New Materialism, „Political Studies” 2018, 4(66), s. 1027–1042
Coleridge S.T., Biographia Literaria or Biographical Sketches of My Literary Life and Opinions, t. 2, London 1817
Coleridge S.T., Poezje wybrane, wyb. i tłum. Z. Kubiak, Warszawa 1987
Colwell-Chanthaphonh C., T.J. Ferguson, Trust and archaeological practice: towards a framework of Virtue Ethics, w: The Ethics of Archaeology: Philosophical Perspectives on Archaeological Practice, red. C. Scarre, G. Scarre, Cambridge 2006, s. 115–130
Cooper G.M., Astrology: The Science of Signs in the Heavens, w: The Oxford Handbook to Science and Medicine in the Classical World, red. P.T. Keyser, J. Scarborough, Oxford 2018, s. 381–407
Davies P.J.E., Architecture and Politics in Republican Rome, Cambridge–New York 2017
Dawson G., Show me the bone: reconstructing prehistoric monsters in nineteenth-century Britain and America, Chicago 2016
Díaz-Andreu M., A World History of Nineteenth-Century Archaeology: Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Past, Oxford–New York 2007
Dova S., Greek Heroes in and out of Hades, Lanham–Plymouth 2012
Drower M.S., Flinders Petrie: A Life in Archaeology, Madison 1995
Felch J., R. Frammolino, Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World’s Richest Museum, Boston–New York 2011
Ferri A.J., Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Poetic Faith in Film, Lanham–New York–Plymouth 2007
Flaubert G., Salambo, tłum. W. Rogowicz, Warszawa 1978
Freedberg D., Potęga wizerunków, tłum. E. Klekot, Kraków 2005
Freedman L., Michelangelo’s Reflection on Bacchus, „Artibus et Historiae” 2003, 24(47), s. 121–135
Frel J., The Getty Bronze, Los Angeles 1978
Furtwängler A., Meisterwerke der griechischen Plastik. Kunstgeschichtliche Untersuchungen, t. 1–2, Leipzig 1893
Geuna E., The Coral Diver, w: D. Hirst et al., Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, London 2017, s. 10–11
Goddio F., Discovering a Shipwreck, w: D. Hirst et al., Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, London 2017, s. 24–27
Graf F., Magic in the Ancient World, Cambridge, MA, 1997
Green J., Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook, San Diego 2004
Harman G., Tool-being: Heidegger and the metaphysics of objects, Chicago, IL, 2002
Harman G., Weird realism: Lovecraft and philosophy, Alresford 2012
Hemingway S., The Horse and Jockey From Artemision: A Bronze Equestrian Monument of the Hellenistic Period, Berkeley–Los Angeles–London 2004
Himmelmann N., Mahdia und Antikythera, w: Das Wrack. Der antike Schiffsfund von Mahdia, red. G. Hellerkemper-Salies, Köln 1994, s. 849–855
Hirst D., The Undersea Salvage Operation: Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, fot. C. Gerigk, S. Russell, London 2017
Hirst D., G. Burn, On The Way To Work, London 2001
Hirst D., A. Corry, Treasures from the Wreck of Unbelievable: One Hundred Drawings, London 2017
Hirst D. et al., Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, London 2017
Hopkins K., Models, Ships and Staples, w: Trade and Famine in Classical Antiquity, red. P. Garnsey, K. Hopkins, C.R. Whittaker, Cambridge 1983, s. 84–109
Kabbadias P., The Recent Finds off Cythera, „Journal of Hellenic Studies” 1901, 21, s. 205–208
Karanika A., The End of the Nekyia: Odysseus, Heracles, and the Gorgon in the Underworld, „Arethusa” 2011, 1(44), s. 1–27
Landfester M., Athenaios [3] aus Naukratis (Ägypten), w: Der neue Pauly. Supplemente, t. 2: Geschichte der antiken Texte: Autoren- und Werklexikon, red. M. Landfester, B. Egger, Stuttgart 2007, s. 88–89
Latour B., We Have Never Been Modern, Cambridge, MA, 1993
Latour B., Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network Theory, Oxford 2005
Loyrette H., On the Name of, w: D. Hirst et al., Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, London 2017, s. 13–17
MacGregor N., A History of the World in 100 Objects, London 2010
Majkowski T.Z., W cieniu Białego Drzewa. Powieść fantasy w XX wieku, Kraków 2013
Marchant J., Exploring the Titanic of the Ancient World, „Smithsonian Magazine” 2015, 10(45), s. 56–69
Mastrocinque A., The Antikythera Shipwreck and Sinope’s Culture during the Mithridatic Wars, w: Mithridates VI and Pontic Kingdom, red. J.M. Højte, Aarhus–Lancaster 2009, s. 313–319
Mattusch C.C., The Victorious Youth, Los Angeles 1997
Maurer K., Archeology as Spectacle: Heinrich Schliemann’s Media of Excavation, „German Studies Review” 2009, 2(32), s. 303–317
Merlin A., Statues de bronze trouvées près de Mahdia, „Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres” 1908, 4(52), s. 245–254
Miles M.M., Cicero’s Prosecution of Gaius Verres: A Roman View of the Ethics of Acquisition of Art, „International Journal of Cultural Property” 2002, 1(11), s. 28–49
Moscati S., The Phoenicians, Venezia 1988
Moscati S., E. Arslan, D. Vitali, The Celts: The Origins of Europe, New York 1991
Muckelroy K., Maritime Archaeology, Cambridge 1978
Muensterberger W., Collecting. An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives, Princeton 2014
Murray W.M., The Age of Titans: The Rise and Fall of the Great Hellenistic Navies, Oxford–New York 2012
Naish G.P.B., The “Wasa”, her place in history, London 1968
Olsen B., In Defense of Things. Archaeology and the Ontology of Objects, Lanham, MD, 2010
Olsen B. et al., Archaeology: The Discipline of Things, Berkeley–Los Angeles–London 2012
Petersen L.H., The Freedman in Roman Art and Art History, Cambridge 2011
Pollard A.M., Measuring the Passage of Time: Achievements and Challenges in Archaeological Dating, w: The Oxford Handbook of Archaeology, red. B. Cunliffe,
C. Gosden, R.A. Joyce, Oxford–New York 2009, s. 123–139
Pollitt J.J., The Impact of Greek Art on Rome, „Transactions of the American Philological Association” 1978, 108, s. 155–174
Pollitt J.J., Art in the Hellenistic Age, Cambridge 2006
Pomian K., Zbieracze i osobliwości. Paryż – Wenecja, XVI–XVIII wiek, Lublin 2001
Posèq A.W.G., Caravaggio and the Antique, „Artibus et Historiae” 1990, 11(21), s. 147–167
Richardson L., Jr., A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, Baltimore–London 1992
Schama S., Inventory, w: D. Hirst et al., Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, London 2017, s. 18–23
Schmidt P., M. De La Garza, E. Nalda, I Maya, Milano 1998
Schulz E., Notes on the history of collecting and of museums, w: Interpreting Objects and Collections, red. S.M. Pearce, London–New York 2003, s. 175–187
Sharp J., Spirals and the Golden Section, „Nexus Network Journal” 2002, 1(4), s. 59–82
Smithson R., A Sedimentation of the Mind: Earth Projects, „Artforum” 1968, 1(7), s. 82–91
Sparrow T., The end of phenomenology: Metaphysics and the new realism, Edinburgh 2014
Stevenson A., „We Seem to be Working in the Same Line”: A.H.L.F Pitt-Rivers and W.M.F. Petrie, „Bulletin of the History of Archaeology” 2012, 1(22), s. 4–13
Stewart A., Greek Sculpture: an Exploration, t. 2, Plates, New Haven–London 1990
Stoneman R., Alexander the Great: A life in legend, New Haven–London 2010
Tcherepashenets N., Place and displacement in the narrative worlds of Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar, New York 2008
Tchernia A., P. Pomey, A. Hesnard, L’apave romaine de la Madrague de Giens, Paris 1978
Torelli M., The Etruscans, Milano 2001
Tourtas A., The discovery of the Antikythera shipwreck: The social aspect, Southampton 2014 [University of Southampton, praca magisterska]
Traill D.A., Schliemann’s “Dream of Troy”: The Making of a Legend, „Classical Journal” 1985, 1(81), s. 13–24
Ucelli G., Le navi di Nemi, Roma 1950
Underwater Archaeology: The Nautical Archaeological Society Guide to Principles and Practice, red. A. Bowens, Malden–Oxford 2009
Vlachogianni E., Sculpture, w: The Antikythera Shipwreck: the ship, the treasures, the mechanism, red. N. Kaltsas, E. Vlachogianni, P. Bouyia, Athens 2012, s. 62–115
Weinberg G.D. et al., The Antikythera shipwreck reconsidered, Philadelphia 1965
West M.S., Textual Criticism and Editorial Technique Applicable to Greek and Roman Texts, Stuttgart 1973
Wilk S.R., Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon, Oxford 2000
Wilson A., The economic influence of developments in maritime technology in antiquity, w: Maritime Technology in the Ancient Economy: Ship Design and Navigation, red. W.V. Harris, K. Iara, Portsmouth, Rhode Island 2011, s. 211–233
Witmore C., Symmetrical archaeology: Excerpts of a manifesto, „World Archaeology” 2007, 4(39), s. 546–562
Witmore C.L., Archaeology and the New Materialisms, „Journal of Contemporary Archaeology” 2014, 1(2), s. 203–246
ŹRÓDŁA ANTYCZNE
Apollodoros, Biblioteka, wyd. jako Apollodorus, The Library, t. 1–2, tłum. i red. J.G. Frazer, Cambridge, MA, 1921
Apolloniusz, Wyprawa Argonautów, wyd. jako Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, tłum. i red. W.H. Race, Cambridge, MA, 2009
Arystoteles, Fizyka, wyd. jako Aristotle, Physics, vol. 1–2, tłum. i red. P.H. Wicksteed, F.M. Cornford, Cambridge, MA, 1934–1957
Cyceron, Przeciw Werresowi, wyd. jako Cicero, The Verrine Orations, t. 1–2, tłum. i red. L.H.G. Greenwood, Cambridge, MA, 1928–1935
Hezjod, Teogonia, wyd. jako Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia, tłum. i red. G.W. Most, Cambridge, MA, 2007
Homer, Odyseja, wyd. jako Homer, Odyssey, t. 1–2, tłum. i red. A.T. Murray, popr. G.E. Dimock, Cambridge, MA, 1919
Lukan, Farsalia, wyd. jako Lucan, The Civil War, tłum. i red. J.D. Duff, Cambridge, MA, 1928
Owidiusz, Metamorfozy, ks. IV, wyd. jako Ovid, Metamorphoses, t. 1–2, tłum. i red. F.J. Miller, popr. G.P. Goold, Cambridge, MA, 1916.
Pauzaniasz, Opisanie Grecji, wyd. jako Pausanias, Description of Greece, t. 1–5, tłum. i red. W.H.S. Jones, Cambridge, MA, 1918–1935
Periplus Morza Erytrejskiego, wyd. jako The Periplus Maris Erythrei with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary, tłum. i red. L. Cassons, Princeton 1989
Pliniusz, Historia Naturalna, wyd. jako Pliny, Natural History, t. 1–10, tłum. i red. D.E. Eichholz, W.H.S. Jones, H. Rackham, Cambridge, MA, 1938–1962
ŹRÓDŁA INTERNETOWE
Cascone S., Damien Hirst’s 60-Foot-Tall Demon Will Loom Over the Most Expensive, Art-Bedecked Hotel Renovation in Las Vegas’s History, „Artnet News” 2019, 3 kwietnia, dostępny w internecie: <https://news.artnet.com/art-world/damienhirst-las-vegas-hotel-demon-1507594> [dostęp: 21 marca 2020]
Damien Hirst on his new shipwreck exhibition, „BBC News” 2017, 6 kwietnia[dostęp: 29 marca 2020]
Franck Goddio, Underwater Archaeologist, dostępny w internecie: <https://www.franckgoddio.org/projects/sunken-civilizations/alexandria.html> [dostęp: 25 marca 2020]
Grecian, Cambridge Dictionary, dostępny w internecie: <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/pl/dictionary/english/grecian> [dostęp: 25 marca 2020]
Greene E.S., J. Leidwanger, Damien Hirst’s Tale of Shipwreck and Salvaged Treasure,„American Journal of Archaeology Online” 2017, 13 grudnia, dostępny w internecie:<https://www.ajaonline.org/sites/default/files/1221%20Greene_0.pdf> [dostęp: 12 marca 2019]
Hirst D., A. Haden-Guest, Interview, 23 listopada 2008, dostępny w internecie:<https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/damien-hirst> [dostęp: 25 marca 2020]
Halperin J., Damien Hirst Created a Fake Documentary About His Fake Venice Show—and Now You Can See It on Netflix, „Artnet News” 2019, 5 stycznia, dostępny w internecie: <https://news.artnet.com/art-world/damien-hirst-created-fake-documentary-venice-show-can-see-netflix-1192922> [dostęp: 21 marca 2020]
Hirst D., The Severed Head of Medusa, Ashmolean Museum, 2018–2019, dostępny w internecie: <https://www.ashmolean.org/event/damien-hirst-medusa> [dostęp: 29 marca 2020]
Hirst D., Wunderkammer, „damienhirst”, 2015, dostępny w internecie: <http://damienhirst.com/texts/2015/wunderkammer> [dostęp: 28 marca 2020]
Hirst D., Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable [przewodniki], Palazzo Grassi, 2017, dostępny w internecie: <https://www.palazzograssi.it/en/exhibitions/past/[dostęp: 11 stycznia 2019]
Latson J., The Barbie Doll’s Not-for-Kids Origins, „Time” 2015, 9 marca, dostępny w internecie:<https://time.com/3731483/barbie-history> [dostęp: 29 marca 2020]
Morgan T., Damien Hirst’s Shipwreck Fantasy Sinks in Venice, „Hyperallergic” 2017, 10 sierpnia, dostępny w internecie: <https://hyperallergic.com/391158/damienhirst-treasures-from-the-wreck-of-the-unbelievable-venice-punta-della-doganapalazzo-grassi> [dostęp: 29 marca 2020]
Obrist H.U., D. Hirst, An Interview, 2007, dostępny w internecie: <http://www.damienhirst.com/texts/20071/feb--huo> [dostęp: 27 marca 2020]
Parke P., Damien Hirst accused of copying African art at Venice Biennale, CNN 2017 11 maja, dostępny w internecie: <https://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/10/africa/damien-hirst-appropriation-venice-biennale> [dostęp: 3 kwietnia 2020]
Romey K., 9 Dazzling Discoveries of Ancient Gold Treasure, „National Geographic”, dostępny w internecie: <https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/10/ancient-gold-treasure-archaeology-egypt> [dostęp: 2 kwietnia 2020]
Sam Hobkinson, „IMDb”, dostępny w internecie: <https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0387700/?ref_=tt_ov_dr> [dostęp 26 marca 2020];
Tim Cragg, „IMDb”, dostępny w internecie: <https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1145108/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1> [dostęp: 26 marca 2020].
Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable (2017), „IMDb”, dostępny w internecie:<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6980988/> [dostęp: 21 marca 2020]
Vogel C., Damien Hirst is Back With an Underwater Fantasy. Will Collectors Care?, „New York Times” 2017, 6 kwietnia, dostępny w internecie [dostęp: 29 marca 2020]
Westfall M., The White Whale 2017, 13 listopada, dostępny w internecie: <http://gristle.com/2017/11/13/the-white-whale> [dostęp: 29 marca 2020]
WYSTAWY
Hirst D., „Romance in the Age of Uncertainity”, 9 września – 18 grudnia 2003, White Cube, Londyn, Wielka Brytania
Hirst D., „New Religion”, 13 października – 19 listopada 2005, Paul Stolper Gallery, Londyn, Wielka Brytania
Hirst D., „Relics”, 10 października 2013 – 22 stycznia 2014, Qatar Museums Gallery ALRIWAQ, Doha, Katar
Hirst D., „Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable”, 9 kwietnia – 3 grudnia 2017, Punta della Dogana oraz Palazzo Grassi, Wenecja, Włochy
FILMY I SERIALE
Clash of the Titans, reż. D. Davis, 1981
The Cousteau Odyssey, seria 1, odc. 8, reż. J.-I. Cousteau, 1976 (1977)
Jason and Argonauts, reż. D. Chaffey, 1963
Jungle Book, reż. W. Reitherman, 1967
The Silent Enemy, reż. W. Fairchild, 1958
Spiderman, reż. S. Raimi, 2002
Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, reż. S. Hobkinson, 2017
License
The copyrights are regulated by author's statement and publication agreement prepared by Adam Mickiewicz University Press. The authors are responsible for the originality of texts published and regulating the copyrights of accompanying visual materials, unless the materials come from the Editorial Team.
This work is available with the following licence:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License