Maarten Vanden Eynde

Restauration du Lac de Montbel (2003), Centre d'Art Contemporain, Sainte-Colombe sur l'Hers, France, 2003 (photo: Marjolijn Dijkman)

Restauration du Lac de Montbel (2003), Centre d'Art Contemporain, Sainte-Colombe sur l'Hers, France, 2003 (photo: Marjolijn Dijkman)

Every year the Montbel lake in the southwest of France, dries out a bit more. This is partly due to global warming and partly to the use of the lake by local fire department helicopters in fighting nearby forest fires. In a vain attempt to restore something that is broken both physically and metaphorically, Maarten Vanden Eynde tries to repair the bottom of the lake by filling up the cracks with plaster. The gesture, documented in this photograph, is of course futile and to no avail.

'Restauration du lac de Montbel' hints at the loss of knowledge that is an inherent result and part of the passing of time. Consequently we are all doomed to make ridiculous gestures and draw false or incomplete conclusions in the future, because objective knowledge will always be outnumbered by subjective (mis)interpretation.