Sedimentation of Cause

Door Christophe Muylaert, 2026

50cm x 40cm

Sedimentation of Cause presents a standard office hole punch partially embedded in a transparent epoxy block. At the base, a dense layer of metallic confetti—the by-products of perforation—forms a compact, almost geological sediment. Notably, this confetti slightly deviates from what the instrument itself would produce: the discs are marginally smaller in diameter. The punch, designed to produce holes, is here arrested by the result of its own action. Cause and effect appear to coincide, yet this minimal discrepancy unsettles that assumption. The residue is plausible, but not fully congruent with its presumed origin. What would normally fall away as waste returns as mass and immobilizes the tool. At the same time, the subtle mismatch introduces uncertainty: does the object produce these remnants, or are they attributed to it? The action is implied, yet can no longer be completed. The work engages a sceptical account of causality, in which the link between cause and effect is not inherent but constructed through habit and expectation. By materially entangling effect and cause while slightly dislocating them, Sedimentation of Cause destabilizes the apparent clarity of instrumental logic. What remains is a suspended system in which production, accumulation, and attribution converge.

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