ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND

Abstract

Art and archaeology have a growing interaction, which is expressed mainly in displaying the material culture of ancient civilizations. The post-modernist concept suggests that art is for everyone. Likewise, archaeologists recognize the idea that archaeological narratives are supposed to be everyone to understand and enjoy. Today, many museum displays and special exhibitions consist of contemporary design features of art. The technology-driven exhibition techniques applied in the “Curious Case of Çatalhöyük” exhibition and Göbeklitepe Animation Center to increase the perception of visitors establish the basis of the study. The paper examines the backgrounds of the relation between two disciplines by “digging” up the history of archaeological theories and analyzing main art movements corresponding to a period from Dadaism to contemporary art. Archaeological storytelling of history and culture using post-modern rhetoric is defined as the “close encounter.” The interactive display provides new directions in the visual reconstructions of past societies. We proposed that the Çatalhöyük exhibition and Göbeklitepe Animation Center are among the best examples of the new approach for presentation in archaeology.