Daniel Arsham — Crystal Relic 002: Camera

Artwork Details

About the Work

Arsham transforms a familiar camera into an archaeological-looking object whose white surface appears partially eroded and encrusted. The lens barrel and body remain immediately recognisable, yet areas of simulated decay disrupt the precision normally associated with photographic equipment. This tension between technological object and imagined ruin is central to the artist’s fictional-archaeology vocabulary, in which contemporary commodities are presented as relics from an uncertain future. The monochrome treatment gives the sculpture a plaster-like stillness, while shadows cast by the damaged areas emphasise texture and depth across the otherwise clean industrial form.