Cornelia ParkerBorn 1956, Cheshire, UK |
‘One of the biggest threats to the future of the planet is obliteration by a giant meteor. The meteorite has become the embodiment of fear of the unknown, although the earth is littered with them.’
For several years Cornelia Parker has been working on a project to send a meteorite back into space. In anticipation of this event, but having not yet managed to defy the earth’s gravitational pull, she has been making a series of ‘meteorite landings‘. These ‘landings’ have taken various forms: in Meteorite Lands in Birmingham’s Bullring, a meteorite that fell in China in 1516 was ground up and inserted in a firework display to land again in a shower of sparks; in At the Bottom of this Lake Lies a Piece of the Moon 2000, a lunar meteorite was secretly thrown into a lake in Boston in the middle of the night. The next morning cast aluminium signs appeared confirming the fall.
In the present editions, Cornelia Parker has made a new series of ‘landings‘. These consist of ‘hits and misses‘ made by heating a 400 year old iron meteorite until glowing hot and then using it to burn mythic locations on maps of the American South.
Cornelia Parker was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1997. Her work is represented in many international collections including Arts Council England, Tate Gallery, London, Henry Moore Foundation, British Museum, Yale Center for British Art, USA and MOMA, New York.
Works on loan from The Multiple Store, London, www.themultiplestore.org
www.frithstreetgallery.com/artists/bio/cornelia_parker
