2025.
Theory of the Earth


A particle in my pocket is speaking with a satellite in our stratosphere, letting me, a human, know that I am here upon this earth.

A cliff, formed 70 million years ago, is captured by a camera and uploaded to a data center halfway around the world in a fraction of a second. The image will live there in perpetuity, while the cliffs will continue to weather and change.

The accumulation of a molecule released in service of our runs to the grocery store, blasts of AC, and new city blocks changes the way heat leaves our earth, causing the extinction of a mosaic tailed rat as its island disappeared under the rising waters.

What does it mean to be a part of earth at this moment in time?

This project, Theory of the Earth, examines this question through pebbles. The pebbles, found on the ground, contain stories and timeframes that dwarf humanity, and yet they are also just pebbles that we walk on.











A. Piece of Basalt, found on a path in Berlin,  most likely from the Eifel mountain region. Original stone is 2-1/2” long by 1-11/32” wide.

B. Drawing of the piece of Basalt

C. Drawing of Eifel mountains, copied from the Lessing painting, Landscape from the Eifel mountains, painted in 1834

D. Photograph of the Lessing painting, Landscape from the Eifel mountains, which hangs in the National Museum of Warsaw

E. Map of the Eifel mountains

F. You, the viewer

w =  Dimension variable:  Depending on screen/projection
x = 7192.604 kilometers : Distance from the IP address of this website to the National Museum in Warsaw where the Lessing painting hangs
y = 502.715 Kilometers: Distance from the Eifel mountains to the location in Berlin where I found the basalt
z = 8977.175 kilometers: Distance from the IP address of this website to your IP address