The retrospective solo exhibition After Present brings together some 30 works that explore connections between contemporary art and archaeology. Each piece refers to potential remnants of the present day and invites the viewer to reflect on what humanity leaves behind on Earth. How will we be remembered when, at some point, we are no longer here? What is our legacy, and how will it be interpreted by those who come after us? The title of the exhibition derives from the relatively recent designation of the year 0, or the moment of looking back and counting, in archaeological and geological circles. Before Present (BP), also known as Before Physics, was introduced in 1949 – or rather, 1 BP – by the American physical chemist Willard Frank Libby, who won a Nobel Prize for his pioneering work on the so-called C-14 method, or carbon dating, to determine the age of an archaeological find. The new year 0 is 1950, replacing the better-known BC (Before Christ) and the less religious term BCE (Before the Common Era). However, the year of Jesus’ birth remained the standard starting point for most dating methods, and the conventional calendar was referred to as the Common Era, Current Era, or simply CE. Since 1950, due to the number of nuclear tests and the resulting nuclear fallout, which significantly affects carbon, the carbon dating method has become unreliable and can no longer be used for archaeological finds dated after 1950.

Given the convergence with a whole host of other exponentially growing phenomena after 1950, also known as The Great Acceleration, 1950 is also regarded as the starting point of the Anthropocene, the age of humankind. The so-called ‘hockey stick’ curve, which rises sharply, is strikingly evident in the global population as a whole, tourism, telecommunications, transport, the production of paper, plastics and fertilisers, emissions of CO2, methane and ozone, the loss of forests and rainforests and overall biodiversity, rising temperatures and ocean acidification, to name but a few. 1950 is therefore an irreversible turning point, marking both an end and a new beginning. What happens after 1950? What remnants will remain in future geological strata, challenging future archaeologists to better understand our present world? What is this fictional time after BP, or Before Present? This exhibition and publication introduce and explore this self-invented designation of a new era, After Present or AP. As a first step, several speculative remnants have already been unearthed and are being integrated into the landscape of Oudenaarde and the collections of the Museum of Oudenaarde and the Ename Heritage Site. And this, as Prof. Dr. Marjan Doom points out in her essay, ‘not by providing answers, but by cultivating critical thinking skills. By teaching visitors not what to think, but how to think. By confronting them with uncertainty, ambiguity and friction – not to confuse them, but to engage them.’ As you walk or cycle, you’ll discover, step by step, how we might one day be remembered.