Christophe Muylaert

The Anatomy of Absent Causes is an installation that examines our innate tendency to construct causal narratives from fragmentary observations. Even when no action or event is shown, we instinctively fill the void with a story that imposes order and meaning. This work makes that cognitive reflex both visible and tangible.

On a white plinth, with the title embossed along the front, sit two transparent cast-resin blocks. One contains a cracked eggshell, positioned with the precision of a scientific specimen. The other encases a metal spoon, equally stripped of context and functionality. Through this act of preservation, the objects are presented as archival evidence, removed from any timeline or event that could connect them.

By freezing the objects in time, the installation intensifies its conceptual aim: the viewer encounters only the aftermath, never the cause. The mind seizes this absence and constructs a plausible narrative — a process that the Scottish philosopher David Hume described as a habit of the mind rather than a property of the world. The work exposes this automatic projection: we interpret, connect, and reconstruct even when factual linkage is missing.

The installation invites a slower gaze and encourages self-awareness: what do we truly perceive, and what do we mentally supply?