Wild Black Yonder
2012
attempt to send a fragment of the Peekskill Meteorite back into space
High altitude ballooning equipment, video projection, fragment of the Peekskill meteorite, photographs of meteorite and impact site courtesy of Dr. Mark Anders.
single channel video, 6 minute loop
32 million years ago
An object plunges into the surface of a planet, cracking it open, launching debris in a thousand directions. One fragment hurtles past the orbits of larger bodies and wanders for several million years as a pale black dot on a black plane. At some point, succumbing to a strange attractor, the object passes through a stratum of bluish sky.
October 9 1992
A bright fireball is observed by sixteen independent videographers, first witnessed over West Virginia, travelling in a northeasterly direction. One eyewitness reported that it appeared at first yellow in color, and then glowed green before splitting into several fragments. On impact, the mass pierced through the trunk of Michelle Knapp’s parked Chevrolet Malibu in Peekskill, New York. Despite its rather common composition, Peekskill became the first meteorite to be recovered following videotaped atmospheric passage.
March 1 2012
I purchased a fragment of the Peekskill meteorite on eBay. I like to imagine this strange economy of matter as a parallel to a broader cosmic exchange of stuff passing through voids, black holes, black markets; breaking through atmospheres, airspaces, checkpoints, and checkouts.
