The start of each geological epoch is marked by a golden spike – a precise place in the exposed layers of the Earth’s crust, where scientists find the most distinctive and representative evidence of the planet’s transition into a new epoch.

 

Since 2016, the search began for a new golden spike, the one that would mark a clear beginning of the most recent geological epoch, this time defined primarily by human activity: the Anthropocene. Among the candidates for this golden spike are the earliest human burials, nuclear test sites, and dead coral reefs.

 

Recognition of the Anthropocene and a clear definition of its limits in time are more than just a scientific debate. It’s a process of humanity accepting its new status as a geological force, putting itself in the same row with solar activity, volcanoes, oceans, and other factors that shape the face of the planet.

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With the group show Golden Spike, Heart Ego joins the search for the Anthropocene’s onset. Works of Ana Barbara Caballero, Beatriz Morales, Pedro Magaña, Mariana Con, Hector Falcon, and Oswaldo Ruiz, reflect on the concepts and phenomena that can define humanity as a greater natural force leaving traces of itself around the globe. These works blur the boundaries between social and natural, the destruction of the old and the emergence of the new, conscious and inert. Humanity’s power to understand and shape the world is seen in this exhibition as a blessing, a curse, and a mystery that we are yet to understand.

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- Anton Meshkov