David Hiscock
In: Time Machine: Anciet Egypt and Contemporary Art. Edited by James Putnam and W. Vivian Davies. Published by the Trustees of the British Museum and the Institute of International Visual Arts, 1994, p. 10.
The main piece I have made for this exhibition is derived directly from the Rosetta Stone and has in its making formed a contemporary hieroglyph, a Bar Code.
A bar code symbol has no direct meaning, unlike the true hieroglyph, which can be a pictogram or a symbol for something. A bar code is merely a symbol which stands for a number; a binary code which merely states one or nought.
I am aware of time, Photographic time, Archaeological time, from a fraction of a second to many thousands of years.
Connections to the past have left traces or resonances on film.
To hold in my hands ancient and sacred artefacts has been a unique and humbling experience. The connection between our world today and the ancient Egyptian seems too vast a gulf to contemplate. The Rosetta Stone bridges this divide.