The Fun Archeology

Designed as an artist book The Fun Archeology presents the collection envisioned by French artist Thomas Mailaender. More than a decade ago, it has been compiled from markets, websites, charity sales or car boot sales. A wide range of materials going from war to pornography, family photo album to political leaflet, anonymous work to artists proofs. By sequencing this body of images Mailaender creates a very personal and impressive visual archeology of the 20th century. The 112 items selected for the publication are all captioned and recontextualised. The Fun Archeology is part of the tradition of the artist's book, it presents the proteiforme collection imagined by the French artist Thomas Mailaender. For more than ten years, he has collected thousands of documents collected from flea charts, on the net, in charity sales and on the street. A wide spectrum of material ranging from war relics to vintage pornographic photography, from family photo albums to political leaflets, from amateur creation to the artist's signature. By ordering and confronting these documents Thomas Mailaender proposes his personal and visual archeology of the 20th century. Each of the images selected for publication is captioned and rendered in its original context in an index at the end of the book.