The exhibition Van wie is de Berg? (Who Owns the Mountain?) at Bureau Europa in Maastricht explores the history and transformation of the former ENCI limestone quarry, examining the complex relationships between industrial extraction and ecology. As part of the exhibition, Concrete Reef is presented through an underwater image depicting the sculpture on the bottom of the artificial lake that has formed in the former quarry, alongside sketches and concrete casts of fossils that are part of the sculpture.
Concrete Reef is a sculpture conceived for this artificial lake. It consists of replicas of marine fossils originally excavated from the quarry and now dispersed across various museum collections. In 2022, the replicas were produced during a workshop with students from the Maastricht art academy and subsequently cast in concrete using the last remaining bags of cement from the former ENCI factory. In this way, the sculpture reunites materials and fossils removed from the site through industrial extraction, returning them to their original place of discovery.
The underwater image envisions Concrete Reef as an artificial reef on the lakebed, becoming part of the new landscape that has emerged following the closure of the quarry. Together with the sketches and fossil casts, the presentation connects the geological history of the site with its industrial past and its potential ecological future.
