Skolbrandsarkeologi (“School Fire Archaeology”) is an artistic excavation (2022–2026) of Slättgårdsskolan in Skärholmen, Stockholm, led by artist Patrick Kretschek. The art project uses contemporary archaeology, participatory art, and documentary methods to explore the aftermath of the June 1, 2020, school fire. It combines text, photography, film, and artifacts to narrate the event through testimonies from students, teachers, parents, and the public. Exhibited locally at culture house FOLK in Skärholmen, it offers a space for reflection on loss, memory, and reconstruction.
School Fire Archaeology
Biography
Patrick Kretschek's art focuses on preservation and its various aspects and blends society's formal processes of archiving and culling with the individual's personal memory and forgetfulness. Like a time traveler, he moves freely around the present, using excavation, collection, and storage as tools to reflect on our present, past, and future. Kretschek reconstructs and repatriates what archives and museums do not preserve, and what archaeologists leave behind. He works in a participatory or collective manner, similar to how a documentary filmmaker or journalist gathers and integrates information, thus actively engaging in the processes of societal change where they occur. Kretschek is also the artistic director of Konstfrämjandet Västmanland and the founder of the multilingual magazine Lyktan.org.
Original title
Skolbrandsarkeologi
Languages
Swedish
Keywords
Contemporary art, Archive, Documentary, Archaeology, Participatory Art, School fire, Reconstruction, Museum, Documentary methods, Local community
Image
https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2408643/2408644
Visit the exposition in the database Research Catalogue.
