Around 3.35pm

Gubb, Mark ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2412-7412 (2021) Around 3.35pm. [Artefact]

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Abstract

‘Around 3.35pm’ takes as its key reference ‘The Middlesbrough Meteorite’. On 14th March, 1881, around 3.35pm, workers on the ‘Pennyman’s Railway Siding’ (now Roseberry Park) heard a rushing sound, followed by a thud. Further investigation revealed a meteorite, dated to a round 4.5 billion years old, meaning it was formed at the same time as the Earth. Throughout history and culture meteorites have been seen as portents of doom or positive signs from Gods. In making this work it is, most honestly, a celebration of a unique piece of local history. By placing this sculpture on top of the Dorman Museum, it also guides people to the spot where they can see the meteorite; not the meteorite itself, as that’s held in the Yorkshire Museum (the Dorman Museum didn’t exist at the time), but a full-size cast all the same. Beyond that, this playful neon sculpture is as open to interpretation as a meteorite’s appearance was to the ancients; it could be taken as a comment on the precarity of existence, it could equally be seen as a portent of great things to come. That’s for the viewer to choose. This is the fourth in an ongoing series of light-based public works depicting elements of nature. The others are ‘Alight’ (2014) in Cardiff city centre, ‘After the Soft Ascent / Wedi’r Esgyniad Ysgafn’ (2013) Cardiff Airport, and ‘Lavender’ (2018) on the Nine Elms in Battersea.

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