Artiplaces: ecological and ontological entanglements of ancient artworks

This special issue of World Art encourages greater archaeological reflection on the relationships between art and place. Do artworks – often made ‘of’ a place, not just in it – throw into relief certain qualities and experiences concretely associated with a place? Conversely, can it be said that artworks create their own places, serving as portals that transform the here-and-now, transcending the dimensionality of their media? The issue contributors address relationships between art and the topographical or ecological plane (art as rooted in place); how art and place gather and conflate disparate temporalities and materialities; and artworks that evoke and articulate with created, untethered spaces beyond the phenomenal world. We discuss what we call the phenomenal artiplace, examining the tight relationship between place and the materials specific to it, as well as the claim that all constituents of a place are animate, including art that emerges in it. We also touch briefly on the possibilities of a ‘hyperreal’ approach to art and place. The theme of the coloniality of artiplaces and its effects on temporality concludes the introduction. Our essay also articulates the relevance of the contributions, given its wide range of geographical areas, time periods, and materials.