Archaeology of Sacrifice: Mobilising Collaborative Artistic Practice Against Extractivist Violence

A seminar led by artist and researcher Dr. Ignacio Acosta.

This lecture will explore the political ecology of mining across the globe. The excavation, extraction and exploitation of minerals – justified by the promise of immediate accelerated economic growth – means that spaces inhabited by communities become ravaged by desertification, contamination and expropriation, and sites of political and environmental dispute. I will hone in on ways in which local and transnational acts of resistance are making use of technologies (such as drones) in order to monitor the impacts of extractive industries and develop micropolitical strategies. These interventions position geological and technological forms, as well as human and non-human relationships, in the same landscape. I will focus on collaborative working methodologies as an important, indeed essential, strategy in the investigation and representation of sites impacted by extractive violence.

This lecture will delve into the research process of my most recent project “Archaeology of Sacrifice” (2020). Through the discovery of a Celtic sacrificial site at Mormont Hill – a limestone and marl quarry located in the Swiss canton of Vaud – the two-channel video installation with surround sound design unveils how the notion of sacrifice has transitioned from ancient sacred rituals to its contemporary meaning within extractive capitalism. In a continuous interplay between fact, fiction and scale, meditative landscapes of typically inaccessible areas are juxtaposed with archival footage, drone views, investigative close-ups and photogrammetry-based 3D modelling. While acknowledging the Anthropocene is built on an erasure of its racial origins, “Archaeology of Sacrifice” reflects on the precariousness of our planet and its unsolicited submission to humanity.

Please see a teaser of the video here. A link to the video work will be sent to ticket-holders via Eventbrite prior to the lecture.

The “Archaeology of Sacrifice” project was developed as result of the Scholarship of the ZF Art Foundation, Friedrichshafen, Germany, filmed during Principal Residency Program, La Becque Résidence d’artistes, La-Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland, and presented at the Zeppelin Museum. It was created in collaboration with film editor Lara Garcia Reyne, artists Valle Medina and Benjamin Reynolds (Pa.LaC.E), writers Carlos Fonseca and Ellen Lapper, sound designer and composer Udit Duseja, and colourist Paul Wills. It includes archival footage from the documentary "Crépuscule des Celtes" (2007) by Stéphane Goël, Climage.

The catalogue of “Archaeology of Sacrifice” is available at The Photographers’ Gallery bookshop.

Image: CG visual of a mining excavator under water using photogrammetry-based 3D modelling technology. Developed in collaboration with Valle Medina and Benjamin Reynolds (Pa.LaC.E). Still from ‘Archaeology of Sacrifice’ (2020), Ignacio Acosta.