Artificial Fossils
Sand-ripple fossils serve as records of ancient atmospheres and hydrodynamic patterns—an archive through which we can interpret climate, weather, and ecological conditions of other times. Leaving us hints to the climatic shifts our planet has undergone.
Artificial Fossils reflects on how engineered coastal management reshapes both landscape and geological memory. At coast in Westenschouwen, situated beside the Oosterschelde storm-surge-barrier (part of the Dutch Delta Works), sand replenishment and sluice regulation continuously alter natural sediment flows. These interventions disrupt the coast’s ecological rhythms and rewrite the “information” embedded in stratified layers of sand.
At the site, I documented the fine topographies of sand ripples and transformed them into 3D models. Using sand collected on 25 January 2025, I cast a series of artificial fossils, material traces preserving a transforming record of weather, tide, and human interferenc
The work considers how the infrastructures designed to stabilise the Dutch coast also manipulate the sedimentary archive, leaving behind ambiguous layers.
Sand-ripple fossils serve as records of ancient atmospheres and hydrodynamic patterns—an archive through which we can interpret climate, weather, and ecological conditions of other times. Leaving us hints to the climatic shifts our planet has undergone.
Artificial Fossils reflects on how engineered coastal management reshapes both landscape and geological memory. At coast in Westenschouwen, situated beside the Oosterschelde storm-surge-barrier (part of the Dutch Delta Works), sand replenishment and sluice regulation continuously alter natural sediment flows. These interventions disrupt the coast’s ecological rhythms and rewrite the “information” embedded in stratified layers of sand.
At the site, I documented the fine topographies of sand ripples and transformed them into 3D models. Using sand collected on 25 January 2025, I cast a series of artificial fossils, material traces preserving a transforming record of weather, tide, and human interferenc
The work considers how the infrastructures designed to stabilise the Dutch coast also manipulate the sedimentary archive, leaving behind ambiguous layers.
All original footage © 2024 Kimia Amir-Moazami Found footage: “Dynamics of Wave Ripples” by MIT Geomorphology Used under fair use / adapted (color adjusted) Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRGuMddjRGg
Pictures by Kimia Amir-Moazami