Carbon Complex

Augmented reality (AR) installation, interface panel (print on dibond, 120 x 48 cm), 3D models, 3D scans, website, 2025

Carbon Complexis an augmented reality (AR) installation that refers to the Carboniferous period, a geological epoch in which South Limburg was covered with densely vegetated swamps. These forests consisted of giant plants, like Lepidodendron, Sigillaria and Glossopteris which are extinct relatives of today’s palm ferns and horsetails – including the great horsetail in the nearby Bunderbos.

Reaching heights of up to forty meters, they formed the foundations for coal. Although coal is no longer mined in South Limburg, it is imported into the Netherlands for use in the steel industry, among other things. Coal is still used as a fuel worldwide. It is responsible for 25% of total global CO2 emissions. In addition, the mining industry is polluting because methane – an important greenhouse gas – and ammonia are released, while mining waste affects water systems.

We are burning the forests of 300 million years ago.

The installation consists of virtual sculptures that reinterpret fossils from this prehistoric ecosystem, connecting the distant past with an uncertain future. The work is a monumental reflection on the deep geological history of the Earth: our planet, which we both shape and destroy with our actions.

Carbon Complex is accessed using a smartphone through a printed panel with a QR code linking to this webpage. The website is part of the project. Carbon Complex was created for Blunderen festival at the Op ’t Rentelen site in Bunde (near Maastricht in the South of Limburg, The Netherlands).

The project was inspired by fossils in the collection of the Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht. A complex is a geological term for a group of rocks that are so closely related (by origin, age or composition) that they are considered a single entity. The title is also a tribute to the Forest Complex en Fire Complex projects by artist Uta Kögelsberger, which document the ecological challenges facing our forests today.

With thanks to Paleobiome for the reconstructions of Carboniferous plants.

The Blunderen festival is a coproduction by The Butterfly House foundation & Bonnefanten museum, supported by: Province of Limburg | Municipality of Meerssen | Mondriaan Funds | VSB Funds | Brand Culture Funds