2022 / L’éternité devant soi

Sculpture, archaeological site of Glanum, France
Stone lettering, dimensions 860x45x25cm
With the participation of the Ministry of Culture and the Centre des monuments nationaux for the program “Mondes Nouveaux”

L’éternité devant soi is a sculpture created for the Glanum archaeological site. Through the use of words, Laurent Pernot proposes a thought experiment on time. The letters are made of natural stone, a material whose temporality is similar to that of ruins and landscape. While several interpretations are possible, the work can evoke the distant past of the city’s remains, or what will become of us in the future. Experiencing the temporality of a site several thousand years old helps us to put our belonging to the world into perspective and better understand our history.
According to the artist, past and future do not exist. One is ashes blown away by the wind, the other an impenetrable fire; everything is present. In this philosophical and poetic perspective, eternity does not refer to an infinite time, but rather to a perpetual present that the work invites us to consider ; the present that nature never ceases to manifest.
Today, our relationship with our environment is undergoing an unprecedented crisis. Given the close correlation between the living and the resources of our earth, it is essential to recognize that we are the subjects of an impermanent world. Other ruins will inevitably follow us, but awareness of this long time and the preservation of memory in the present will contribute to future generations.