Artist Maarten Vanden Eynde creates works that are driven by humanity’s ecological impact on earth, particularly in relation to the current geological layer that will be left behind for future generations. Eynde’s works tend to exist within cross-disciplinary fields, aligning themselves with a range of areas from marine biology to cosmology, and from social anthropology to futurology. With Anthropocentric methodologies at the core of his practice, Eynde’s long-term projects allow him to focus on specific topics for extended periods, resulting in the generation of multiple works and presentation opportunities for a single concept.
“In my art practice I try to stop the clock and take time to unravel the process and consequence of time. I deliberately look for and relate to different fields of study, social contexts and anthropological perspectives as an arena in which I produce, exhibit and talk about my work. 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 my main area of interest. The discourse around this new term and its entanglements within a global and postcolonial context is at the core of my artistic research.”
"Currently I'm 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'."
Commentaires