Site Remains, 2000, five microfiche readers with color transparencies, dimensions variable

Site Remains is an installation comprised of five antiquated microfiche machines labeled “ritual objects,” “totems,” “flora,” “language,” and “weaponry.” The interactivity of the microfiche reader echoes that of the internet while using an obsolete technology once designed to archive vast amounts of cultural information. Viewers navigate through a series of roughly twelve photographs of abandoned objects on each machine. Often only fragments of the objects are visible on the screen at one time, obscuring their identity and simulating the experience of an archaeologist attempting to reconstruct an unfamiliar culture through incomplete remains and faulty classifications.