August 2017

400m

On the ostraca of Iruña-Veleia, and the path that leads from archaeology to contemporary art.

400m is the distance between the museum of archaeology and the museum of contemporary art in Vitoria-Gasteiz, in Basque Country. It is also the title of our new book on the controversy surrounding the archaeological discovery of the "ostraca" from Iruña-Veleia: Roman potsherds with engravings of images, texts in Latin and what appeared to be the earliest written manifestation of the Basque language, which were deemed a forgery by a select commission of academic experts.

The book will be presented for the first time at the exhibition "The Materiality of the Invisible" in the Van Eyck Academy, and will be for sale during the annual convention of the European Association of Archaeologists taking place in Maastricht from 30 August to 3 September.

With texts by Iñaki Martínez de Albéniz, Harkaitz Cano, Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum.

Printed with a mimeograph at the Charles Nypels Lab in the Van Eyck Multiform institute for fine art, design and reflection.

Basiskamp Entre Nous

In september we will be participating in the Entre Nous Basiskamp, an investigative project related to the welfare state. A military style camp will be the setting for a number of activities, debates and presentations tackling subjects such as democracy, labour, education, poverty and (health) care. Several artists have been selected from each province, to live and work for one month in and from the camp.

The Materiality of the Invisible

The Materiality of the Invisible opens on the 29th of August in Maastricht, at the Van Eyck, Marres and Bureau Europa. The exhibition approaches contemporary art as a form of archaeology. New and strange worlds are uncovered, exposing current and social political realities. The artists' discoveries, narratives, and installations propose speculative pasts and futures. The combined exhibitions offer insights into our existence and make visible what inhabits the imagination.

We will be showing new work, The Stick and the Stone, as well as Nire ama Roman hil da, of which the video is now subtitled into English. Accompanying this installation is a new publication, 400m, which has been printed at the Charles Nypels Lab at the Van Eyck.