Joint project by artist duo Lea Krämer and Florian van Dalen

The advertising column was once at the centre of attention. As a young apparition, he had a clear function: spreading information, reaching people, being part of the rhythm of the city. His role was clear, his appearance regularly refreshed with posters appropriate to the times. He knew the trends, was current, spoke to passers-by.

As the years passed, his position changed. Digital media slowly took over his role. New technologies spoke faster, louder, more directly. The advertising column remained, but its presence became less obvious. Yet he did not disappear. He adapted, unobtrusively, silently.

Meanwhile, something is growing on him. Each new poster was pasted over the previous one, without removing the older layers. Thus, over the years, a thick package of paper developed: layer upon layer, month after month, year after year. What was intended as ephemeral communication inadvertently became a conservator of time, a material.

This material ‘created from years of pasting’ forms the basis for a joint investigation by Lea Krämer and I. We collect pieces of these fossils and use them as a starting point for new works. Not from nostalgia, but from a fascination for what accumulates, what lingers, what remains hidden under the visible.

We are opening the layers like a geological window to reveal the past in colour and pattern.