[meteorite-list] Meteorite Sculpture by Katie Paterson

[tracy latimer]

This is different only in scale from using a bit of meteorite in brewing beer, as an aphrodisiac, or when I included a fragment of an unclassified common NWA in my kitchen tile countertop.  There is a long history of artists repurposing materials for their artwork (although the gent who ground up lunars to use instead of Viagra is stretching that definition); some are more accepted than others.  I do agree that after such extensive manipulation the only thing that might be said about the material is that it was of meteoric origin.

Best!
Tracy Latimer

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> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 13:14:41 +0000
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorite Sculpture by Katie Paterson
> From: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>
> Dear Listoids
>
> I make no claim to be an expert on contemporary art/artists, nevertheless I have worked with a number of artists over the last few years in my role as a mineral curator for the National Museums and this has allowed me to get a glimpse of the way different artists devise, plan and execute their works. I haven't had the pleasure of working with Katie, but I do know her and I have met her and we have had some long discussions about meteorites and she does feature meteorites and space in her work a lot. So I feel I ought to give my angle on this as well as try and explain her work on the Campo using her own words.
>
> The original concept was formulated in around 2010/11 and the finished cast was exhibited in London in 2012. At about that time she gave an interview and the following quote is lifted directly from the published article:
>
> "...The artist domesticates the cosmos' immensity: she gives the unfathomable a human scale, putting it within our reach. "The cast meteorite will likely be placed on Exhibition Road (close to the Natural History Museum) in a discrete place, where people can sit around it and be able to touch it," she says. "Most meteorites have been travelling around space for over four and a half billion years. They are older than the Earth and are the oldest objects on Earth. I like the idea of this vast cosmic history embedded inside them. Melting a meteorite and reforming it is a little bit like compressing and merging together these layers of time, history and space. Eventually I would like to send the meteorite back into Space, though that might not be for many years."
>
> Well the many years have now past and Katie has send the recast meteorite into space.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Cheers
>
> Peter Davidson
> Senior Curator of Minerals