Luisen Zela-Koort
Atmospheric Time Machine, 2023-2025
Chemical synthesis of Earth's first stable atmosphere ( ̴ 4 billion years old), pressurized 5lt alum gas canister, chrome finish, wall mounts: 805 (Carbon Dioxide CO2) 94%, 1062 (Nitrogen N2) 2%, 1235 (Water H2O) 1%, 45 (Ammonia NH3) 0.5%, 820 (Methane CH4) 0.45%, 1011 (Oxygen O2) 0.05%, Neon balance
100 x 30 cm
39 3/8 x 11 3/4 in.
39 3/8 x 11 3/4 in.
Unique
Courtesy of the artist, Brooke Benington and N.A.S.A.L
Through a collaboration with a team of scientists, the artist has synthesised the closest documented composition of Earth’s first stable atmosphere nearly 4 billion years ago. Presented within an industrial...
Through a collaboration with a team of scientists, the artist has synthesised the closest documented composition of Earth’s first stable atmosphere nearly 4 billion years ago. Presented within an industrial gas canister, and a graphic embossed label, this particular composition is situated within a context of serialisation, repetition, and production. What we consider natural is historical and contextual; multiple distinct versions of nature have existed throughout time which are incompatible with human life, such as this particular one. Similarly, our current planet has become more and more weird, and strange, our climate, many of our scientific definitions now outdated. Nature is in constant self-actualisation, and here presented is a past iteration.
