Ali Cherri

Endless Falls

As a discipline born at the same time as colonialism, archeology is struggling to rid itself of this sad context. It is simultaneously the science of the creation and the restoration of ruins. Ali Cherri is interested in auctions of archaeological objects and the desire they inspire in this context. Some, outside the museum, dated vaguely or from obscure sources, are as if they are declassed archeological objects. With his installation Fragments, which combines artifacts and stuffed animals, the artist “rehabilitates” these objects by making them enter the museum without seeking to (re)historicize them, but rather by addressing another form of taxonomy, all commenting on the notion of a “universal museum” that the Louvre can claim. Continuing this work around the value of “found” objects; Ali Cherri began to intervene directly on artifacts, going against their integrity. He produced Endless Falls from a broken pre-Columbian pot, which he repaired with “foreign” elements, from a different provenance and history, creating a sort of mutant out of time. The brass staples emphasize this scarification, and recall that for some cultures the repair is an art, and that the value can be in the imperfection, following Japanese kintsugi. The artist recalls that restoration is an investment in the museum’s liberal system; he strategically chooses what object will be repaired, it will be the one that will attract the public, the one that will contribute to the valuation of the institution itself.