Loose Sediments






Loose Sediments explores the layered nature of remembrance and its evolving nature in the post-digital space. As time unfolds, memories stack and become ledged between one another, resulting in ambiguous film-covered strata that resist delineation. They are fluid and translucent, blending into an archive of temporal multiplicities.

Analogous to the erosion of geological formations, memory too undergoes a gradual dissolution, leaving behind sedimented remnants of the past. Drawing parallels with the geological concept of sedimentation, wherein materials are relocated and consolidated over time, memory likewise crystallises through accumulation and solidification. The interplay between various sedimented layers mirrors the complex intermingling of past experiences, present realities, and future aspirations.

Maria Ilieva’s site-specific work is commissioned by FIG. for Octopus Space which is located in the Largo underpass next to the archaeological excavations of the ancient Roman city Serdika. These excavations are a material testament to humanity’s imprint on Earth. But what happens when our imprint is becoming increasingly digital?


Contemplating the archaeological nature of the physical surroundings and the burgeoning solidity of our virtual identities, Maria Ilieva prompts us to ponder the eventual archaeological status of our digital habitats and the paradigm shift into the process of archiving and collective memory.

-FIG.4
Sofia, 06.2024

photographs by Mihail Novakov