Caitlin DeSilvey – Curated Decay

Caitlin DeSilvey, associate professor of cultural geography at the University of Exeter, and member of Bjørnar Olsen’s CAS-project After Discourse: Things, Archaeology, And Heritage in the 21st Century, has a book out now on University of Minnesota Press. In Curated Decay: Heritage Beyond Saving, DeSilvey explores several themes which compel us to rethink conventional notions of heritage conservation. Her emphasis, …

Life among Soviet Ruins. Interview with Bjørnar Olsen

Bjørnar Olsen (UiT), director of Object Matters: Archaeology and Heritage in the 21st century, presents the CAS project After Discourse: Things, Archaeology, and Heritage in the 21st Century in this interview conducted by Karoline Kvellestad Isaksen at Centre for Advanced Studies in Oslo. Several issues of importance to the research project are introduced in the feature including overarching themes like …

Special issue – Primitive tider

The field of contemporary archaeology is more vital than ever. The new issue of the Norwegian journal of archaeology called Primitive Tider has reserved 175 pages for scholars with an interest in the recent past. With this edition archaeologists with a shared interest in contemporary matters, offer a glimpse into the broad and eclectic research going on within contemporary archaeology. …

Two PhD Candidates in Contemporary Archaeology

The Department of Archaeology and Social Anthropology has two full-time PhD positions vacant from September 1st, 2017 for applicants who wish to obtain the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD). The position is attached to the research project Unruly Heritage: An Archaeology of the Anthropocene. The appointments are fixed term positions for a period of four years. Salary level NOK 416 …

Unruly Heritage: An Archaeology of the Anthropocene

According UNESCO’s definition, heritage is “our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations”. While exemplary inclusive, this hardly reflects concern for the fact that our legacy is becoming increasingly mixed and messy: archipelagos of sea-borne debris, ruining metropolises, industrial wastelands, sunken nuclear submarines, melting glaciers and toxic residues in seals …

Public Lecture by Graham Harman

On Tuesday, January 10, noted philosopher Graham Harman will give a lecture entitled ”The difference between object-oriented ontology and actor-network theory” at Litteraturhuset, Oslo. The lecture starts at 6.30 pm and is open to all interested. Earlier that day, at 13.00 – 1500 pm, Harman will give a workshop on his object-oriented ontology at the Centre for Advanced Study hosted …

Article by Saphinaz Amal Naguib in TFK

Object Matters-member Saphinaz Amal Naguib has published an article (in Norwegian) in a special issue (Festschrift for Bjarne Rogan at the University of Oslo) of the journal Tidsskrift for Kulturforskning (issue 2, 2016). The article entitled “Når veggene taler: Gatekunst, graffiti, kalligraffiti og den arabiske våren i Egypt” (When walls speak: Street art, graffiti, calligraffiti and the Arab Spring in …

Imagine this! at TAG Southampton, December 2016

Postdoctor Þóra Pétursdóttir and Ph.D.-candidate Stein Farstadvoll with the Object Matters team are organizing a session called “Imagine this! The familiar and the strange in archaeological mediation” at the upcoming TAG (Theoretical Archaeology Group) conference in Southampton, December 19-21, 2016. The session seeks to explore the tensions between the familiar and the strange in archaeological mediation and reasoning. The deadline …