Pratchaya Phinthong
A Sketch for a Monument to the Anthropocene
“-A Solid concrete dimension of Length 84 inches, width 28 inches, and height 23 inches. Standing vertically
-Every side covered by Obsidian.
-Embed randomly number of sliced polished Chinga Meteorites.
A representation of space and time-collided between reading the past through the future.
The two different contradictory perspectives, appear as a mirror: an idea for a monument that allow our projections depart asunder one from the other once we face ourselves to it.
Chinga meteorite is an iron meteorite found in 1913 in Tuva near Chinga river in Russia, estimate that it fell about 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. The Chinga Meteorite was found in the Chinga river bed in Tanna Tuva, Turvinskaya, Russia in 1911 (north of present day Mongolia). Chingas are arare type of iron meteorite known as an ataxite. Ataxites have a very high nickel content. This high nickel content results in a lack of any visible Widmanstatten pattern, and Chinga meteorites polish into a beautiful mirror like finish
Obsidian is a natural volcanic glass, which was widely used during prehistoric times as cutting implements probably because it is shiny and attractive, and can be worked easily into implements with razor-sharp edges. but also use for scrying, a tool seeing into the future and past.
Obsidian is formed through relatively fast cooling of high-silica lava domes and flows that are usually very homogeneous in chemical composition. The geological occurrence of obsidian is typically very limited and its homogeneous chemical composition is often highly characteristic of a particular source. Its relatively limited occurrence made it a valuable item of trade or exchange during prehistoric times. Although obsidian artifacts are brittle and have a short use-life, they are highly durable and can be found in archaeological sites over thousands of years old. As such, obsidian serves as an excellent material for studies in prehistoric sourcing, trade, or exchange.
Wooden box is made of any possible plywood at dimension L84”xW28”xH23”“
Artist Bio
Pratchaya Phinthong (born 1974, Thailand) lives and works in Bangkok. Recent solo exhibitions include Pratchaya Phinthong, gb agency, Paris; Sleeping Sickness, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Rennes (both 2012); Give More Than You Take, GAMeC (Galeria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea), Bergamo (2011) and CAC Brétigny (2010). Group exhibitions include Materials, Money and Crisis, MUMOK, Vienna; I Know You, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (both 2013); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel; The Ungovernables, New Museum Triennial, New York; Modern Monsters / Death and Life of Fiction, Taipei Biennial (all 2012); Until it Makes Sense, Kadist Art Foundation, Paris and How to Work (More for) Less, Kunsthalle Basel (both 2011).
Themes: human, agency, extinction
Category: Events