Ars Memoriae, The Art to Remember analyzes the role of art within the larger history and evolution of external memory devices. It looks at material traces of remembering and the invention of an ever-changing body of language expressions, like signs and symbols, to enhance communication capabilities. I followed the process of externalizing emotions, knowledge, and information, starting in the Paleolithic Stone Age about 3 million years ago, until, in a speculative future, it will be internalized again using artificial wetware, neuro-computers, and DNA coding.
About Maarten Vanden Eynde and his work
For almost two decades Maarten Vanden Eynde has studied humanities ecological impact on Earth, visualized 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 for 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 surrounding discourse and its entanglements within a global and post-colonial context is at the core of his artistic research. Vanden Eynde 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.
Maarten Vanden Eynde`s practice is embedded in longterm research projects that allow him to focus on a specific topic for many years and generate multiple works and presentation opportunities. Vanden Eynde developed and studied the concept of Genetology (The Science of First Things) from 2003 to 2014 and tried to define this non-existing opposition of 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 use this fictional science as a methodology and framework to look at the world we live in.
Ars Memoriae by Maarten Vanden Eynde (researchcatalogue.net)