Future Relic No. 06 - Polaroid

DANIEL ARSHAM (B. 1980)
Future Relic No. 06 - Polaroid
plaster and crushed glass sculpture in the original box, unopened
sculpture: 5 3/4 × 5 × 5 1/2 inches (14.6 × 12.7 × 14 cm)
Executed in 2015. This work is number 288 from an edition of 500.

PROVENANCE: 
Acquired directly from the artist

NOTES:
Daniel Arsham reimagines the debris of modern life as archaeological fiction, fusing design, decay, and nostalgia into sculptural forms that feel both ancient and eerily familiar. Through his Future Relic series, Arsham casts iconic objects of the late 20th century in materials that simulate geological erosion, positioning them as time-worn remnants of a vanished civilization.

Future Relic No. 06 – Polaroid fossilizes the instant camera—once a symbol of immediacy and social memory—into a ghostly sculpture rendered in white hydrostone with shattered crystal. The object appears partially unearthed, as if excavated from ruins, its function long obsolete, its form now meditative and mute.

In Arsham’s hands, the Polaroid becomes more than a technological relic; it is a quiet elegy for the analog age and the tactile rituals of image-making. A monument to impermanence, this work invites reflection on how we record, preserve, and ultimately forget.