Isabel Merchante, All light is from the past at Future Archaeologies, Camden Art Centre, London (2024)  




Exhibition: Future Archaeologies
Location: Camden Art Centre, London
Dates: 25/05/2024 - 30/06/2024
Curator: Matt Williams
Artists: Attiyyah Rahman, Camille Provost, Casper Dillen, Christy Taylor, Dominique Cro, Elisavet Mandilara, Frankie Fathers, Isabel Merchante, Rodrigues Goncalves, Nicole Varda, Roberts Jansons, Stephanie Teng, Zi Wang



Future Archaeologies offers a novel perspective on redefining our relationship with time, place, and memory by exploring the intersections of our past, present, and future. Collectively, they fuse nostalgia with futuristic visions, drawing on disciplines such as history, archaeology, science, and speculative fiction.

The arrangement of sculptural and interactive artworks, set within the verdant spaces of Camden Art Centre’s garden, builds on philosopher Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious. It proposes a new dimension where future archaeology could occur that harnesses the potential of speculative fiction, reflecting on Luis Borges’s notion that ‘the present is the instant in which the future crumbles into the past’. The presentation of these future relics within the natural environs of the Camden Art Centre garden engages with the elements, embodying ephemerality and chance.

Designed to reshape audiences’ psychogeographical connection with the site, the artworks prompt reflections on what future archaeologists might discover about past civilisations in 1000 years and how these relics encapsulate the origins and aspirations of society today. By examining themes of loss, impermanence, and fragility, the artworks seek to question contemporary definitions of humankind.


Roberts Jansons, Automated Airport Weather Station at Future Archaeologies, Camden Art Centre, London (2024)  

Elisavet Mandilara, Blessing and Curse at Future Archaeologies, Camden Art Centre, London (2024)  

Christy Taylor at Future Archaeologies, Camden Art Centre, London (2024)  

Zi Wang, One Step Beyond at Future Archaeologies, Camden Art Centre, London (2024)  

Stephanie Teng, You Left Without Saying Goodbye at Future Archaeologies, Camden Art Centre, London (2024)  

Stephanie Teng, You Left Without Saying Goodbye at Future Archaeologies, Camden Art Centre, London (2024)  

Casper Dillen,  at Future Archaeologies, Camden Art Centre, London (2024)