Maarten Vanden Eynde

The Origin of Objects (2023) - detail, IJsselbiennial, Zwolle, NL (photo: Maarten Vanden Eynde)

The Origin of Objects (2023) - detail, IJsselbiennial, Zwolle, NL (photo: Maarten Vanden Eynde)

The installation The Origin of Objects consists of a series of concrete boulders ranging in size from one to two meters in diameter in which a hollow space is visible. Mirroring the empty spaces found in the lava at Pompeï, the voids each represent a specific object whose role and function were vital or symbolic for the evolution of mankind. They include the wheel, a sewing machine, a 35mm film camera, the first Apple computer, and a Nokia 3310. A mother mold is made of every object, suggesting perfect archetypes, of which objects in the everyday world are imperfect copies, referencing Plato. The molds, like cut-open giant geodes, are made of recycled concrete and show only the negative form of every object, revealing the contours of what once was. Together, they form a cluster of remnants of human presence and influence on Earth to be discovered in a fictional future.