Fresh Epigraphs, 2001

Scattered throughout Park Sonsbeek are the Fresh Epigraphs by the Mexican artist Gabriel Kuri (1970). At first glance, they appear to be ordinary stones, but upon closer inspection, carefully engraved texts are revealed. For example, one stone bears the winning lottery numbers from an Arnhem newspaper in June 2001: “LUCKY DAY – THE HAGUE, winning numbers.” A little further on, another stone shows the broadcast times of Roland Garros and the VPRO program Het Uur van de Wolf. Due to erosion and overgrowth, the stones are increasingly difficult to find, giving them an almost hidden archaeological status.

The association with the clay tablets of Persepolis (circa 500 BCE) is striking: thousands of preserved receipts, pay slips, and administrative documents that gave archaeologists a rare insight into daily life in the Persian Empire. Kuri’s stones function similarly as time capsules, preserving trivial data from the early 21st century and transforming them into objects for future study.

With Fresh Epigraphs, Kuri elevates everyday notes to art and undermines the hierarchy between the banal and the sublime. At the same time, he reveals a critical layer: our abundance of consumption, information, and choices. For future generations, these seemingly trivial details could form a key to understanding our society.