Apropos extinction, archives, trauma and a whole bunch of other stuff, you should all go check out Gustav Metzger's show that opened at the Serpentine last week. Metzger invented 'auto-destructive art' in the sixties, burning sheet metal with flames and acid and the like. When The Who smashed their guitars and had all these caustic psychedelic displays in the background it was directly referencing that (indeed, I think Metzger even made their displays). He came to the UK as a Kindertransport refugee, and so much of his work is to do with displacement, and scraps. For me, his most powerful piece is 'The Angel of History' (after Benjamin after Klee), in which endless newspapers were piled up in a glass case that reproduced the one in which Eichmann was tried. Guardian images of the show:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2009/sep/28/gustav-metzger-serpentine

Tom McC