Open Source Curriculum
Everyday Archeology
with Kari Marboe
April 2021 // .edu edition
Select Readings
Life: A User’s Manual by Georges Perec, translated by David Bellos
Double Game by Sophie Calle
Discussion Guide
Exercise
About the Topic
What is undervalued in ceramic history? How do things become devalued? What is overvalued? And who decides what is valuable? To answer some of these questions, Kari Marboe has taken on the role of ceramic detective, flattening as many data points as possible about the history of ceramic objects in order to create new narratives about their true history, and to intertwine that history with our present moment. Might we all have a responsibility to become some version of a ceramic detective?
In this State of Ceramics we will consider the importance of engaging with information of all kinds as equally related—oral histories, documents, photographs, quick questions answered by strangers in a shipping office, a drive-by of a ceramic textbook writer’s house without stopping the car, or a pile of clay by the side of the road that’s perfectly plastic and ready to become something. Using Kari’s practice (and serious research-based shenanigans) as a starting point, we will discuss and brainstorm strategies for uncovering and filling gaps in contemporary ceramic history.
About the Artist
Kari Marboe is a Bay Area artist and Assistant Professor at California College of the Arts (CCA), Oakland and San Francisco, CA. She completed her BFA in Ceramics from CCA in 2008 and her MFA in Art Practice from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2012. Marboe’s archive-based ceramic works and performances have been exhibited at the Mills College Art Museum, CA, Greenwich House Pottery, NY, 500 Capp Street/Southern Exposure, CA, the Berkeley Art Center, the Museum of Craft and Design, CA, Wave Pool Gallery, OH, the Museum of Northern California Art, CA, Jacksonville University, FL, the Waffle Shop Billboard, PA, and A-B Projects, Los Angeles, CA. She has done residencies at Greenwich House Pottery, NY, Mutual Stores, CA, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, ME, and Elsewhere Museum, NC.