FUTURE RETRIEVAL

Future Retrieval, founded by Guy Michael Davis and Katie Parker in 2008, re-examines and disrupts the history of decorative arts through the excavation and empirical study of archives and museum collections. Taking objects held in institutional collections as its starting point, Future Retrieval investigates global patterns of transmission and dislocation across cultures and times, both with respect to an object’s iconography, materiality, and utility, and concerning its eventual path back to the archive or museum. The collective uses contemporary methodologies and approaches (including digital scanning) to create works across many mediums, including sculpture, textiles, wallpaper, installations and beyond. Their work speaks to the wonders of the past while simultaneously addressing imbalances of art history that too-often neglect so-called decorative or minor arts. Through objects that may initially appear functional in form, Future Retrieval reconsiders the tensions among contemporary art, craft, and design, subtly yet critically subverting the implied hierarchies among these fields.