Residual Histories are twelve capsules [...] made of gelatin, sugar, water, and the debris collected from books. Avakian explains that each capsule is a site of remains: “Each looks like, and probably is, a fossilized promise. Each is an artefact that holds the promise of one day being excavated and decoded of its myriad layers of data, some of which we cannot imagine now.” Avakian examines a series of printed books from his library, to “extract and bring to light their many hidden layers of incidental inscriptions and markings”, by treating them like palimpsests. In this piece, he separates these layers of inscription from the book and converts them into new sculptural fossils.