Similar to other thematic months, like MerMay, or artistic creative endeavors such as the 100 Days project, Artober is a limited-duration, thematic-inspiration, art project. For archaeologists, we have ArchInk and this year the AAI will be hosting a data-driven version!
ArchInk, it is a variation of a different hashtag, #Inktober. However, controversies around the establishment of a trademark on the term “Inktober” have caused it to fall out of use by online communities. And since then, the original month of inking prompts has expanded beyond that artistic medium. Now we have the more general “Artober,” which inspires creativity around the month of October. It’s even a celebratory month of art in major American cities!
More generally, Artober is part of a group of non trademarked or copyrighted hashtags that have branched off for specific themes during October to encourage creativity. As we mentioned, archaeology has #ArchInk, though you might catch some architecture students using the tag as well.
#ArchInk is specifically for those interested in archaeological illustration or just making fun art pieces with archaeology themes. Previously, Dr. Katherine Cook provided the archaeology themed creative prompts for the month, facilitating conversation around the #ArchInk tag. Kindly, Dr. Cook has kindly allowed the us to collaborate and present a data-driven version of #ArchInk. However, there are often multiple archaeology communities sharing prompts, so keep an eye out for others!
While #ArchInk focused on visual art, we encourage people to use these prompts to create using any medium they enjoy. Whether they’re songs, desserts, or tabletop role playing (TTRPG) games, we want to see what you create from our archaeology data-driven prompts. Therefore, don’t forget to @opencontext so we can share your creations once we share our prompt calendar!
We’ll also be participating and sharing our work! In addition, this year AAI’s data-driven #ArchInk doubles as alpha-testing for our next Data Story, It’s All in the Wrist (Bones): Archaeological Data as Artistic Inspiration! We’ll be sharing more info about that next time, so check back again soon!
