Object Artifacts, Image Artifacts and Conceptual Artifacts: Beyond the Object Into the Event

Abstract

When asked to respond to the question “what is an artifact?” I initially had several divergent responses. Because of my varied background and current position, I responded to thisquestion in three related but different ways: as an anthropologist (the area of my initial graduate training), as an art historian (the area of my Ph.D.), and as a professor of new media (my current position).