Lecture Series WiSe 24/25, Maarten Vanden Eynde
Dienstag, den 12.11.24, 18 Uhr
Hörsaal der Kunsthochschule
Maarten Vanden Eynde, ‚Ars Memoriae – The Art to Remember‘
Artist Talk
Since the dawn of man, progress has been the main driver for evolution. Contemporary globalisation bearing daily changes at an unprecedented speed, favours a linear understanding of time. The world of the present is being pushed and pulled towards the future, leaving the constant growing past behind. In a collective frenzy of euphoria we are all together building a better and more convenient world. Or are we?
For almost two decades Maarten Vanden Eynde has been studying humanities ecological impact on Earth, visualised by the current geological layer we will leave behind for future generations. Most of his works start from an investigation into the materiality of objects that surround us, ranging from the origin of the different materials and the contexts in which they are extracted, transported and transformed, to the remains after they are no longer in use. The Anthropocene, a new and contested geologic chronological term to define the epoch that began when human activities started having a significant global impact on the Earth’s ecosystems, is his main area of interest. The discourse around this new term and its entanglements within a global and postcolonial context is at the core of his artistic research.
In his art practice he tries to stop the clock and take time to unravel the process and consequence of time. He deliberately looks for and relates to different fields of study, social contexts and anthropological perspectives as an arena in which he produces, exhibits and talks about his work, ranging from marine biology to cosmology, and from social anthropology to futurology.
His practice is embedded in long term research projects that allow him to focus on a specific topic for many years and generate multiple works and presentation opportunities. For instance, he developed and studied the concept of ‚Genetology‘ (The Science of First Things) from 2003 to 2014 and tried to define this non-existing opposition to the existing Eschatology (The Science of Last Things). In general Genetology studies human nature to facilitate and stimulate change, manipulate evolution and alter the world in order to create something new. Today he still uses this fictional science as a methodology and framework to look at the world we live in.
From 2008 to 2013, he worked on a research project and sculpture called ‚Plastic Reef‘, a growing installation of melted plastic debris from the world’s oceans, dealing both with one of humanity’s most pressing pollution problems and the disappearance of coral reefs worldwide. Within the same research project, several other works were made, exhibited and reviewed worldwide. For this project he worked closely together with several marine researchers and joined multiple scientific research expeditions. The different works and outcomes became part of the rising awareness of plastic pollution and the realisation that it will survive us and possibly even become one of the last leftover fragments representing human existence on planet Earth.
Currently he is investigating the influence of transatlantic trade of pivotal materials (like rubber, oil, ivory, copper, cobalt, cotton, lithium and uranium), on the evolution of humankind, the creation of nations and other global power structures. The project ‚Triangular Trade‘ traces back the origin of the different materials and follows their (r)evolutionary path as they are processed and transformed into ‚world changing wonders‘.
From 2020 to 2024 he will be part of the Artistic Research project ‚Matter, Gesture, Soul‘ as a PhD candidate at the University of Bergen, Norway.
Datum / Uhrzeit
12.11.2024 /18.00 Uhr
Ort
Hörsaal, 1. OG Ost, 01-307
Kunsthochschule Mainz
Am Taubertsberg 6,
55122 Mainz
Bildnachweis/Textnachweis
Vortragsreihe WiSe 24/25, Text/Grafik, 2024 © Kunsthochschule Mainz, Robert Meyer,