Mineral coal powder on reused glass plate, 115cm, 2025.

Visual artist and architect Mercedes Klausner explores our relationship to memory and disappearance by examining notable material remains. Based in northern France, a region marked by its mining past, she collects coal shards, echoing the nostalgic preservation of these pieces of “souvenir coal” by former miners. Her work Souvenir reproduces the rose window of the Immerath church, demolished to expand the Garzweiler mine in Germany, a destruction documented in Joanie Lemercier’s film Slow Violence.

Destined to go up in smoke, this ancient material here resists, honoring the vanished monument. When displayed in a dark room, the coal reveals subtle glimmers, giving it a precious quality.

Texte by Giovanna Massoni and Amandine David, curators of the exhibition AU CHARBON! For a Post-Carbon Design at the Lewarde Mining History Centre, 2025.