Maarten Vanden Eynde

Future Flora: Fungurume I

Future Flora: Fungurume I

Future Flora: Fungurume consists of topographic translation of the copper mine in Fungurume, DR Congo. The map was transferred onto a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) and decorated with a wide variety of seeds and grains collected in Fungurume, representing transistors and electrical components. Together they mimic a lukasa or ‘memory board’ like those used by members of the Mbudye association in the Kingdom of Luba (now part of the DR Congo) in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as archives for the topographical and chronological mapping of political histories and a means of remembering important people, places and mythical migration routes. The seeds are organised in relation to the graphic outlines of the mining concession and evoke the memory of seed collection, preservation, modification and militarisation. At the same time, they act as a back-up for rare plant species that sometimes grow only on one specific hill or in one particular valley as a result of the presence of certain minerals in the soil. They can be used to recreate the original fauna and flora when the mining activities have ended.