Museum of Burial + Unearthing

Dew Traveling Studio: Biophobia | F16

Professor Shiqiao Li

Burial is an act both literal and metaphorical: just as we construct the ground beneath our feet with the trash of landfills, messy infrastructural networks, and the deceased, so too we construct the ideological grounds of culture based on that which we choose to remember and that which we choose to bury and forget. This museum, located on a currently undeveloped parcel on the northeastern corner of the National Mall, exposes these various burial practices—some detrimental, others beautiful. In addition to human-centric exhibitions on industrial waste and disposal operations and the theories of figures like Freud, Heidegger, and Foucault, the museum highlights the seasonal burials and excavations of nonhuman agents such as wind, water, and plants.

THE DRAINED + FILLED LANDSCAPE OF WASHINGTON, D.C. | Cut and especially fill operations were integral to the city's development. The cross hatch above designates areas of "artificial fill... low-lying land filled for building purposes, determined from examination of historical topographic maps and a report and map by Froelich and Hack (1975)," according to a 1995 geological survey of the District of Columbia.

PROCESS | Collages exploring spatial and cultural interpretations of burial and excavation by shuffling landscape imagery and built projects.

ABOVE + BELOW | Parallel worlds of the museum exist above and below ground.

MOMENTS OF INTERACTION | Sloped walls, gravel berms, and opaque vs. transparent materials create spaces with variable degrees of isolation and sociality.

SEASONAL DISPLAYS | Glass-walled display cases capture and accumulate "burial material," highlighting seasonal changes and the process by which ground is made.