Archaeology provides the vocabulary for seeking truth in a range of professional fields. Nowadays the excavation of older and other realities, the peeling away of layers, the search for traces and the reading of signs are regarded not only as practical skills, but also as intellectual endeavors. What do we really see and read in the world that surrounds us? From August 25 to November 26, 2017, the exhibition The Materiality of the Invisible offers an encounter between archaeology and contemporary art. The exhibition is organized by the Van Eyck in collaboration with Bureau Europa and Marres. Each in their own ways, these three locations will explore the common grounds of archeology and contemporary art. The opening coincides with the annual conference of the European Association for Archaeologists, which will take place in Maastricht in 2017.