Part sculpture, part mobile geological field station, The Library of Earth Anatomy features a new contemplation based geology collection and an accompanying card catalogue, a rock handling collection, a selection of inspirational geological printed matter and a petrographic microscope for exploring the geological universe in thin section.
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Part sculpture, part mobile geological field station, The Library of Earth Anatomy features a new contemplation based geology collection and an accompanying card catalogue, a rock handling collection, a selection of inspirational geological printed matter and a petrographic microscope for exploring the geological universe in thin section. The piece grew out of a two-year engagement with The Exploratorium as Artist-in-Residence through their groundbreaking programme founded in 1974.
Ilana Halperin’s Exploratorium residency culminated in the launch of The Library of Earth Anatomy, a collection of remarkable geological artifacts that invite and inspire us to see rocks in new ways. Created for the Exploratorium’s Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery, the Library employs unconventional classification methods to dissolve the usual boundaries between nature and culture, as well as between animal, vegetable, and mineral.
Premised on the notion that “Earth’s geological record is like a book whose pages have been ripped apart and scattered about,” the Library reveals the unusual richness of Bay Area “geologic literature.” Its rock fragments tell many stories. A series of cards correlated to the rocks guides us in the apprehension that the solidity of rock is an illusion, and that the scale of geologic time is immense.