NOTE Captions are in process of being edited for typos!


[postponed from 23 March]

Abstract from Antonia Thomas:
In this seminar I am going to discuss some of the ways in which we can think about the art and archaeology of rubbish, using examples of waste and waste landscapes in Orkney, Scotland, as case studies. My starting point is the Orcadian dialect word bruck, which can mean both rubbish, and used things that are forgotten or found. Its meaning transcends the finality of mere waste, and carries within it a sense of potential reuse, and a possible future. This can be seen in Orkney at a range of scales, from the reclaimed landscapes created from dumped WW2 material, to the vernacular creativity seen in the reuse of marine debris or farm machinery in contemporary art. These examples offer a springboard for a discussion of changing attitudes to waste more widely.