The Petriverse of Pierre Jardin: by Paul A. Harris Main Menu Paul A. Harris

Mineral Convolutions

2
This vinyl banner is part of CO-MODIFIED, a published series of studies in speculative geo-media. It conveys the categorical confusion characteristic of the Anthropocene; the once clearly demarcated differences among rocks, life, and humans are dissolving. The image sets news from the frontiers of geology against a teal background, in front of which float conglomerated crystal-like forms.

The backdrop texts recast geologic history as mineral evolution, which studies the intertwined co-evolution of geosphere and biosphere.[i] At top, a possible discovery of primeval fossils shows how "life begets rock, rocks beget life."[ii] Skeptics classify them as "dubiofossils," structures in rock that resemble fossils but may not be biogenic in origin.[iii]  At bottom, evidence of the Anthropocene is found in 'human-mediated minerals,' new kinds of crystals found in mines, shipwrecks, and museum storage.[iv]

The enigmatic amalgamated geophysical chunks are composed of three mineralogical materials cited in the news reports (Hematite tubes, Fiedlerite (formed by slag meeting seawater), Simonkolleite (formed by weathering of zinc-bearing slag)), attached to a piece of Fordite, or Motor Agate (built up layers of enamel auto paint slag, cut and polished). 

[i] See Robert M. Hazen, The Story of Earth (Viking, 2012).
[ii] Hazen, quoted in Maya Wei-Haas, "Life and Rocks May Have Co-Evolved on Earth" (Smithsonian Magazine, 2016) www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/life-and-rocks-may-have-co-evolved-on-earth-180957807/.
[iii] Deborah Netburn, "In 3.7-billion-year-old rock, scientists find what could be the oldest fossils on Earth." Los Angeles Times, March 1, 2017.
[iv]Deborah Netburn, "You are living in a unique time on planet Earth — mineralogically speaking." Los Angeles Times, March 3, 2017.
 

This page has paths:

  1. Stone is the New Green Paul A. Harris

This page references: