Sedimentary Rock (Rotterdam)
Esther Kokmeijer
(2020)
Sedimentary Rock (Rotterdam) is an installation of cylindrical concrete core samples and wooden crates. The cores are composed of glass, plastic, metal, wood, bones as well as other unidentified substances. They were excavated from a fenced 300-hectare area situated in the North-East of Rotterdam - a wasteland covered with a deep layer of the concrete slab. The last usage of the land was by a private cement plant called the Rotterdamse Beton Centrale. It had a secret patented recipe for manufacturing concrete through blending together waste and other toxic materials.
The 80 cm long core samples function as contemporary artifacts that narrate the hidden and complex geology and history of this piece of land. They further tell an essential part of the story of Rotterdam - a city that witnessed massive destruction, post-war reconstruction, and extensive urbanization process. Like the natural sedimentary rocks, these artificially produced samples explore a knowledge that is normally visually absent from the eyes of the local inhabitants.
The work was produced in the frame of a recent “If Paradise Is Half As Nice” (Ipihan) project that took place in August 2020, when the group encamped the concrete slab for six weeks for exploration and research purposes.