Visual Art, Archaeology and Gestalt

Abstract

Archaeological excavation has much in common with the visual arts. Archaeological excavators and visual artists are involved in a process of image formation. They not only document and replicate the appearance of things, but also make ideas, concepts and experiences visible. The Gestalt principles of similarity, proximity, continuity and closure provide a way to understand how the mind orders and groups the complex visual relationships that are created and observed in a given field or environment. Gestalt research into figure-ground relationships finds correspondence in the archaeological concept of object-context. These ideas find a philosophical correspondence in the imagery and teachings of Taoism. Together they offer an interdisciplinary way to think about the shapes, patterns and structure of time and change.