Previous future: Archaeological treasures of the 21st century AD
In 4022, the 21st century is no more than a long forgotten past. Written and audiovisual memory has been erased, victim of its too fragile supports. Plastic and other synthetic materials have not survived for centuries either. Only fragments of metal, glass, terracotta or stone remain, unearthed here and there by chance. Based on these minute, precious and moving testimonies, archaeologists restore our world, sometimes with accuracy, sometimes with mistake, necessarily.
Future anterior makes you think and laugh. Visitors discover familiar objects, skilfully transformed into archaeological relics. These remains are restored and interpreted according to rigorous but not always founded logic, where the catcher is classified with the stoves, where the rifle casings are vials, the watering can a ceremonial vase, and where garden gnomes are probably notables or priests. Wacky? Not so much. Stripped of all the experience we associate with them, approached from a purely descriptive and comparative angle, subjected to the double chance of conservation and discovery, the range of objects enters into a different logic, and arouses other views. A way of showing that archaeology, whether it is about the past or the future, always combines with the imperfect.