Mayo Archivi de Quisquilia

iAIR Krems Residency Archivi Di Quesquilia In 2014 a residency in Lower Austria allowed me to research the Austrian botanist Karl von Hügel at home.The trip included a visit to the Herbarium at the Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna. Here I viewed and held specimens collected by Hügel in Australia. Sitting with his specimens, I wondered where exactly he collected them. Had I walked200 years lateron that same spot? I also reflected on the long sea voyage necessary to transport these specimens to Europe in the early 19th Century. Now Australian biosecurity laws prohibit the transport of flora and fauna and their by-products across the border except with special approval. Discarded rubbish, on the other hand, moves and is transported around the world. Archivi de Quisquilia (Archive of Rubbish), connects the human desire to collect and record with the detritus left by human consumption and activity. Archivi de Quisquilia invites participants to become the collector. By naming specimens with a scientific and common name, we mimic the language of herbarium specimens. The exhibition at Fremantle Arts Centre included two participartory artwalks, where members of the local community could join the artist in re-tracing the footsteps of Karl von Huegel. Using excerpts from his journals Mayo created a walk where the descriptions of the landscape 200 years earlier overlaid the contemporary experience of Fremantle. At times traces of Huegel's experience merged with the contemporary; for example the indigenous plant Melaleuca huegelii still grows abundantly. The artist brewed a local indigenous honey drink with the flowers to refresh everyone at the end of the walk. Supported by RMIT iAIR, AIR Krems and the Lower Austrian Government.