Synthetic Geologies
At what point does a material cease to be "natural" and become "synthetic"? Cement, as a reconstituted form of limestone and clay, embodies this ontological instability, existing simultaneously as a geological residue and an artifact of human engineering. By recontextualizing cement, the exhibition disrupts its conventional anonymity, revealing it not as a passive binder of aggregates but as an active site of material memory, where its transformations can be read, traced, and made tangible.
Through sculptural interventions and material displacements, the works navigate the entanglement of human and geological forces. Some forms appear as if excavated from an unknown past, while others anticipate a fossil record yet to come, a moment in which synthetic and natural sediments become indistinguishable. If the built world functions as an artificial stratigraphy, what does it mean to manufacture stone? And if concrete, once set, is destined to fracture and erode, how does this cycle of making and unmaking define the geologies we now construct?
Material: Cement clinker, limestone, steel balls, fire-resistant textile
Process: Accelerated lithification
Supported by MAGAZIN. Space for contemporary architecture.
2025 - Vienna - AUT.
Exhibited in MAGAZIN. Rembrandtstraße 14/1A, 1020 Vienna, Austria.
Many thanks to MAGAZIN team: Matthias, Jerome, Sara, Oemer and Florian.
Many thanks to Holcim Switzerland and Holcim Austria for the material support.
Exhibition photos in MAGAZIN space by Simon Veres.
Other media by Studio Eidola.
Limestone, the primary raw material for cement production, is a sedimentary rock formed over millions of years through the accumulation and compaction of marine organisms such as corals, shells, and microscopic plankton. As these calcium-rich remains settled on ancient sea floors, they were gradually buried under layers of sediment. Over time, pressure and chemical processes caused the loose sediments to lithify, forming solid rock primarily composed of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃).
In cement production, limestone is extracted from quarries through drilling and controlled blasting, then transported for processing. The large fragments are crushed in multiple stages to achieve the required size for further blending with other raw materials. This process maintains a consistent composition before the material enters the kiln for high-temperature transformation into clinker.
The installation includes limestone sourced from the Mannersdorf quarry near Vienna, a site with deposits dating back to the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous periods. The extracted stone contains visible shell fossils and crystallized calcite structures, remnants of its marine origins. These geological traces can be seen in the stones lying on the bed of steel balls used for grinding, where limestone is crushed into fine particles before being incorporated into cement production.
Inside the rotary kiln, limestone, clay, and other raw materials undergo a controlled sequence of chemical transformations. Crushed and blended, they move gradually through the rotating kiln, passing through distinct temperature zones where their composition continuously changes.
At around 100°C, any remaining moisture evaporates. As the temperature rises to 400–600°C, clay minerals break down, and certain compounds in the mix begin to decompose. Between 650 and 900°C, silica starts reacting with calcium to form early-stage mineral phases. From 900 to 1,050°C, the remaining limestone fully decomposes into reactive lime, releasing CO₂.
At higher temperatures of 1,300–1,450°C, silicates, aluminates, and ferrites fuse and form new mineral structures. The material partially melts, creating molten nodules that resemble volcanic lava, before cooling and solidifying into the cement clinker. This process replicates igneous rock formation but with controlled precision, turning sedimentary minerals into an engineered stone.
The video installation captures this transformation through a direct view into the kiln’s interior, where molten clinker rotates continuously under intense heat. Filmed through the small observation windows, the footage reveals the glowing mass of semi-molten material as it moves through the kiln, its surface shifting in texture and color as it undergoes chemical change.
Cement clinker, the granular residue of high-temperature calcination, is itself an intermediary state—neither raw nor fully realized, suspended between disintegration and recomposition. Its production resembles the earth’s own metamorphic processes, where heat and pressure induce irreversible material shifts, yet here, the transformation is intentional, directed, and infrastructural.
The sculptural objects, formed through a process inspired by natural cementation—the slow lithification of sediment through mineral binding—allow particles to settle and bond in unpredictable ways. Some appear as if unearthed from an unknown past, while others suggest remnants of a future fossil record, fragments of an era in which the geological and the manufactured have become indistinguishable.