Prehistoric Themes in Contemporary Art: Seth Price and Prehistoric Body Theater

The article explores the allure of prehistory in contemporary art, referencing Rachel Kushner's novel 'Creation Lake' (2024) and its fictional character Bruno Lacombe, who advocates learning from Neanderthals. At the paperback launch at Pioneer Works in Red Hook, the author connects to artist Seth Price, whose practice involves writing and themes of returning to a pre-linguistic state. Price's recent exhibition at 15 Orient featured textual fragments on A4 paper and his video essay 'Redistribution' (2007–), which includes cave painting footage. The author also attended a performance by Prehistoric Body Theater's 'Ghosts of Hell Creek: Stone Garuda' at Asia Society Museum, depicting dinosaurs and early primates without spoken language, directed by Ari Rudenko. The performance aimed to evoke a visceral, shared evolutionary narrative. The article concludes with a visit to the Met to view Paleolithic bifaces from Aisne, France, dated 700,000–200,000 BCE, highlighting their dual function as tools and aesthetic objects.