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vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><circle cx="11.11" cy="19.79" r="1.85" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></circle><path d="M15.14,18.94l1.17-.22" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="M5.97,20.87l1.17-.23" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="M11.28,29.79c6.24-.46,12.15-4.2,18.38-5.34,1.63-.3,3.32-.41,4.83.07" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="M14.57,33.06c6.2.12,12.41-1.6,17.66-4.89" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="M37.45,17.6c-1.1-.23-1.9-.34-3.02-.41-2.41-.17-4.82.39-7.07,1.28s-4.35,2.1-6.46,3.29c-4.05,2.28-8.36,4.56-13.01,4.62" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path></g></svg></a></div><div class="flex justify-between space-x-2"><a class="block hover:text-foreground/50" href="/research/float">Research</a><a class="block text-accent hover:text-accent" href="/about">About</a><a class="block hover:text-foreground/50" href="/people">People</a><a class="block hover:text-foreground/50" href="/notes">Notes</a><a class="block hover:text-foreground/50" href="/engage">Engage</a><button class="block">Search</button></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="max-w-screen-3xl mx-auto px-4 sm:px-6 md:px-8 lg:px-12 xl:px-16 py-4 space-y-16 pb-16"><div class="space-y-8"><div class="grid md:grid-cols-3 lg:grid-cols-2 gap-8"><div class="font-serif text-lg"><h2>About</h2></div><div class="md:col-span-2 lg:col-span-1"><div class="font-mono text-sm uppercase space-y-4"><p>The story of Earth<br /> 40is written<br /> 41by multitudes</p> 42<p>The story of Earth<br /> 43is written<br /> 44within your body</p> 45<p>4 billion years<br /> 468 billion people<br /> 47<em>Twelve Earths</em></p></div></div></div><div class="grid md:grid-cols-3 lg:grid-cols-2 gap-8"><div><svg class="w-48 h-48 icon stroke-current" viewBox="0 0 40 43.2" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" stroke-width="2"><g fill="none" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-miterlimit="10"><path d="m31.63,28.61c-4.06,6.44-12.56,8.37-19,4.31-6.44-4.06-8.37-12.56-4.31-19s12.56-8.37,19-4.31c6.44,4.06,8.37,12.56,4.31,19Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="m38.06,17.07c-.49.77-1.51,1-2.28.52s-1-1.51-.52-2.28,1.51-1,2.28-.52,1,1.51.52,2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="m38.78,21.88c-.49.77-1.51,1-2.28.52s-1-1.51-.52-2.28,1.51-1,2.28-.52,1,1.51.52,2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="m36.94,30.1c-.49.77-1.51,1-2.28.52s-1-1.51-.52-2.28,1.51-1,2.28-.52,1,1.51.52,2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="m34.15,34.08c-.49.77-1.51,1-2.28.52s-1-1.51-.52-2.28,1.51-1,2.28-.52,1,1.51.52,2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="m17.71,39.41c-.49.77-1.51,1-2.28.52s-1-1.51-.52-2.28,1.51-1,2.28-.52,1,1.51.52,2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="m22.1,37.65c.49-.77,1.51-1,2.28-.52s1,1.51.52,2.28-1.51,1-2.28.52-1-1.51-.52-2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="m1.22,18.63c.49-.77,1.51-1,2.28-.52s1,1.51.52,2.28-1.51,1-2.28.52-1-1.51-.52-2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="m7.66,6.79c.49-.77,1.51-1,2.28-.52s1,1.51.52,2.28-1.51,1-2.28.52-1-1.51-.52-2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="m14.9,3.48c.49-.77,1.51-1,2.28-.52s1,1.51.52,2.28-1.51,1-2.28.52-1-1.51-.52-2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="m22.05,3.47c.49-.77,1.51-1,2.28-.52s1,1.51.52,2.28-1.51,1-2.28.52-1-1.51-.52-2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path d="m35.32,11.71c-.49.77-1.51,1-2.28.52s-1-1.51-.52-2.28,1.51-1,2.28-.52,1,1.51.52,2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><circle cx="33.94" cy="10.82" r="0.5" class="fill-current stroke-none"></circle><path d="m7.21,31.9c-.49.77-1.51,1-2.28.52s-1-1.51-.52-2.28,1.51-1,2.28-.52,1,1.51.52,2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><circle cx="5.8" cy="31.02" r="0.5" class="fill-current stroke-none"></circle><line x1="19.92" y1="1.55" x2="19.92" y2="41.65" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></line></g></svg></div><div class="md:col-span-2 lg:col-span-1"><div class="space-y-4"><div class="space-y-4"><div class="markdown space-y-4"> 48 <p>At the limit of comprehension, there is âworld.â For humans, âworldâ is proxy for Earth: a beginning and a functional limit, a maximum unit. Earthâs energiesâits forces, capacities, temporalities, and intensitiesâcreate the frame of possibility for our existence, our perceptions and reality. Yet even as we reach a horizon of globality, Earth remains wanton, escaping us through mysterious registries and vast scale.</p> 49<p>This materially real and immanent complexity is the point of departure for <em>Twelve Earths</em> (2017-2029), a planetary sculpture scaled to Earth itself. Designed by <a href="https://michaeljonesmckean.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Michael Jones McKean,</a> with critical support from <a href="https://www.fathomers.org/michaeljonesmckean" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fathomers,</a> the project unfurls as a series of collaborations centered at twelve distinct sitesâan impact crater, a nuclear testing ground, a primeval forest, a nearly submerged island, an open pit mine, and moreâthat together build a portrait of Earth, its converging timescales, and its interconnections. Improbably, these 12 sites are located along a single geographical ring: one unifying âgreat circleâ stretching 25,
49000 miles around the planet.</p> 50<p>Each site unveils a collection of panoptic realities that, through the lens of <em>Twelve Earths</em>, encourages an exploration of speculative inter-belonging with life, objects, time, processes, and events. By composing systems sensitized to place and elasticized to scale, McKean and collaborators forge surprising connections that remain responsive to criss-crossing vectors shaping a locationâs realityâits histories, politics, languages, and customs, along with vast expanses of pre-human history. This practice of radical learning and engagement happens twelve different times as the projectâs research platform develops and grows.</p> 51<p>By building a dense meshwork of contact points, <em>Twelve Earths</em> establishes the possibility of brief and long-form encounters where time/space distances can swirl, collapse, and dissolve. It creates portals to contemplate birth, death, decay, transmutation, emergence, alchemy, architecture, flora, fauna, and geology, rendering distributed phenomena momentarily visible, knowable, and strange. A constellation reporting to us in our time and simultaneously extending a beacon to unknown and distant futures, <em>Twelve Earths</em> transcends boundaries to expand, deepen, and release our planetary imaginary.</p></div> 52</div></div></div></div></div><div class="grid md:grid-cols-3 lg:grid-cols-2 gap-8"><div class="font-serif text-lg"><h3>FAQ</h3></div><div class="md:col-span-2 lg:col-span-1"><div class="space-y-8"><div class="space-y-4"><div class="text-accent space-y-4"><p>What is <em>Twelve Earths?</em></p></div><div class="space-y-4"><p><em>Twelve Earths</em> [c. 2017-2029] is a planetary sculpture exploring radical interconnectivity along a 25,000-mile circular path, linking 12 diverse locations around the planet. Together, these locations form an emergent commons to practice creative intimacy, empathy, and communion with Earthâits matter, histories, temporalities, and life, manifold expressions interweaving us all.</p></div></div><div class="space-y-4"><div class="text-accent space-y-4"><p>Who is making <em>Twelve Earths</em>?</p></div><div class="space-y-4"><p>The project is led by artist Michael Jones McKean with critical, long-term support from Fathomers, a creative research institute based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Working alongside McKean are a number of international thinkers and practitioners from the sciences, arts, philosophy, government, history, business, technology, philanthropy, and more.</p></div></div><div class="space-y-4"><div class="text-accent space-y-4"><p>Who is the project for?</p></div><div class="space-y-4"><p><em>Twelve Earths</em> is an artwork that operates at a planetary scale, forging hyper-local connections with partners and individuals at each of the 12 sites, while also building a decentralized audienceâpeople interested in art, ecology, the sciences, geopoetics, and moreâwho might not be geographically near the ring.</p> 53<p>A central value of <em>Twelve Earths</em> is to hold connections across disciplines, backgrounds, and borders, centering relationship-building as an organic process. As such, these connections might coalesce in myriad forms and scales: a simple conversation after an event, a group visiting a site, or a volunteer effort to remediate a grass plain. The project attempts to dissolve the theatrical distinction of "actor" and "audience," enfolding them as one.</p></div></div><div class="space-y-4"><div class="text-accent space-y-4"><p>Is <em>Twelve Earths</em> a sculpture?</p></div><div class="space-y-4"><p>Yes. Early on in the project's development, McKean, a sculptor by training, imagined Earth as a natural human thresholdâa common plane of shared material existence that we ourselves are composed of and also bound within. This materiality, in all its recombinant potential, forms an alchemic foundry of Earthly possibility, acknowledging that all matter exists in a state of becoming. The project imagines sculpture as an expanded creative tool, one of deep learning tied to empathic rituals with people, matter, making, and transformation.</p></div></div><div class="space-y-4"><div class="text-accent space-y-4"><p>Why 12 sites?</p></div><div class="space-y-4"><p><em>Twelve Earths</em> lives in communion with mythic, folkloric, and spiritual traditions that celebrate interconnectivity. The number 12 has held significance in cultures around the world, showing up in everything from timekeeping systems to musical notes, astrological houses, counting systems, magic symbolism, and much more.</p></div></div><div class="space-y-4"><div class="text-accent space-y-4"><p>How were the locations determined?</p></div><div class="space-y-4"><p>Determining 12 sites, each linked formally along a continuous path around the globe, required three years of research. The process began with the development of a coordinate database hosting thousands of global locations that each relayed different chapters of Earthâs larger story. An algorithm was then developed to sift through the database spatially, drawing millions of paths, or rings, around the Earth. Out of 67 million potential routes, a handful of rings emerged that, against geographic odds, connected a few locations in our database. The
53se few dozen rings were studied by hand over many months to reveal four ringsâeach remarkable, strange, mysterious, and tonally idiosyncraticâthat were then studied in more granular detail. By this thorough research, supported by conversations with partners around the world, <em>Twelve Earths'</em> ring path gradually and gracefully emerged.</p></div></div><div class="space-y-4"><div class="text-accent space-y-4"><p>When is it happening?</p></div><div class="space-y-4"><p>Currently. Initially developed in 2017, <em>Twelve Earths</em> will continue to unfold across 12 years until 2029. At this point, the project will then enfold over an additional 12 years, reaching its full articulation by the September equinox of 2040. By design, the work exists in different forms indefinitely, continuing to pose questions along deeper timelines in the future.</p></div></div><div class="space-y-4"><div class="text-accent space-y-4"><p>Why take so long to finish an artwork?</p></div><div class="space-y-4"><p><em>Twelve Earths</em> takes cues from the natural speed of the planet. As a team, we are prioritizing building slow, respectful dialogue with local stakeholders at each site. Relationships take precedence over predetermined outcomes, allowing true conversationsâand friendshipsâto blossom. We think of slowness not as an obstacle to surmount, but as a care practice that deepens engagement and helps us to be in right relationship with each other and the Earth.</p></div></div><div class="space-y-4"><div class="text-accent space-y-4"><p>When will the sites be revealed?</p></div><div class="space-y-4"><p>Though all twelve sites were determined in 2019, their announcements to the public will be staggered with locations being revealed in the years leading up to 2029. Two sites have been announced so far. The first location, announced on the equinox of September 22, 2022, is Cerros Pachón and Tololo. Located in the Coquimbo region of Chileâs Andes Mountains, this site houses a cluster of powerful telescopes destined to capture the most complete map of the universe ever created. The second site, announced one year later on the equinox of September 23, 2023, is Abrigo do Lagar Velho. This rock shelter, located in the Lapedo Valley of Portugalâs District of Leiria, contains the 29,000-year-old remains of a four-year-old child, remains which question our perceptions of what it means to be human. The third location announcement is forthcoming in March 2024.</p></div></div><div class="space-y-4"><div class="text-accent space-y-4"><p>How do I experience <em>Twelve Earths</em>?</p></div><div class="space-y-4"><p><em>Twelve Earths</em> exists as 12 physical locations whose connections are being articulated sculpturally and poetically. While it is certainly possibleâand would be rewardingâto visit each <em>Twelve Earths</em> location, the artwork can be experienced without any travel at all. Local and regional programming will be developed over the longer arc of the project. Participation, however one may define it, may encompass events hosted by affiliated institutions or virtual opportunities for engagement wherever you and your devices may be.</p> 54<p>While <em>Twelve Earths</em> is deeply rooted in specific, singular places, it also exists through ideas, which allows it to be experienced from numerous vantage points. <em>Twelve Earths</em> by and large is a cognitive antenna that helps modulate concrete aspects of the Earth into signalsâstoriesâthat help re-mythologize place and re-world our conception of Earth.</p></div></div><div class="space-y-4"><div class="text-accent space-y-4"><p>Is there an archive?</p></div><div class="space-y-4"><p>Yes. The project's physical archive is currently housed at McKean's studio and will be relocated to the Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art after the project's completion. The archive acts as a crumb trail to the project's origins, its methodologies, early and ongoing conversations, source materials, and library, as well as location research, history, geology, current events, and more. A curated archive will also exist and continue to be updated on the <em>Twelve Earths</em> website. At each site, a number of artworks are being developed, some with an eye toward long durations, in effect serving as an in situ planetary archive.</p></div></div><div class="space-y-4"><div class="text-accent space-y-4"><p>How is <em>Twelve Earths</em> being funded?</p></div><div class="space-y-4"><p><em>Twelve Earths</em> has received critical support from Fathomers since 2017. The project has also received early generous support from a number of organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts, Sable Systems, WeTransfer, Blueprint Pictures, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. <em>Twelve Earthsâ</em> unusual form, a large-scale artwork wedded to a planetary body and stretched out over non-traditional time horizons, creates funding challenges still to be solved.</p></div></div><div class="space-y-4"><div class="text-accent space-y-4"><p>How can I become involved?</p></div><div class="space-y-4"><p>In many cases, the best way to experience <em>Twelve Earths</em> is through deep and active involvement. An artwork at this scale and complexity requires the uplift and support of many voices and skill sets: engineering, material sciences, bio-sciences, geology, wayfinding, philanthropy, and so much more. If this sounds like you and you want to learn more about ways to contribute to the work itself, or if you would like to simply receive occasional updates and advance notice of public events and announcements, please be in touch at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="573831313e3432172320323b2132323625233f247934383a">[email protected]</a>. If you wish to explore ways to help lift the project through financial support, we are also eager to speak with you.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></main></div><div class="fixed top-0 right-0 left-0 z-10 text-foreground text-sm font-mono lg:hidden"><div class="max-w-screen-3xl mx-auto px-4 sm:px-6 md:px-8 lg:px-12 xl:px-16 relative py-2"><div class="flex space-x-8 justify-between"><div>
54<a href="/" class="hover:text-foreground/50"><span class="uppercase">Twelve Earths</span></a></div><div><button class="-m-4 p-4"><svg class="w-3 h-3 fill-none stroke-current stroke-2" stroke-linejoin="round"><use href="/assets/feather.svg#menu"></use></svg></button></div></div></div><div class="max-w-screen-3xl mx-auto px-4 sm:px-6 md:px-8 lg:px-12 xl:px-16 py-2"></div></div><div class="z-10 text-foreground text-sm font-mono fixed will-change-transform -translate-y-full top-0 left-0 right-0 hidden lg:block"><div class="max-w-screen-3xl mx-auto px-4 sm:px-6 md:px-8 lg:px-12 xl:px-16 py-2 flex space-x-8 xl:flex-none xl:space-x-0 xl:grid xl:grid-cols-4"><div><a href="/" class="text-accent hover:text-foreground"><div class="uppercase">Twelve Earths</div></a></div><div class="flex-1 xl:flex-auto xl:col-span-3"><div class="flex justify-between space-x-2"><a class="block hover:text-foreground/50" href="/research/float">Research</a><a class="block text-accent hover:text-accent" href="/about">About</a><a class="block hover:text-foreground/50" href="/people">People</a><a class="block hover:text-foreground/50" href="/notes">Notes</a><a class="block hover:text-foreground/50" href="/engage">Engage</a><button class="block">Search</button></div></div></div></div><div class="z-10 text-foreground text-sm font-mono fixed will-change-transform transition-transform duration-300 translate-y-0 top-0 left-0 right-0 hidden lg:block"><div class="max-w-screen-3xl mx-auto px-4 sm:px-6 md:px-8 lg:px-12 xl:px-16 py-3 flex space-x-8 xl:flex-none xl:space-x-0 xl:grid xl:grid-cols-4"><div class="flex space-x-4"><a href="/" class="hover:text-foreground/50"><svg class="w-16 h-16 icon stroke-current" viewBox="0 0 40 43.2" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" stroke-width="2"><g fill="none" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-miterlimit="10"><path d="m31.63,28.61c-4.06,6.44-12.56,8.37-19,4.31-6.44-4.06-8.37-12.56-4.31-19s12.56-8.37,19-4.31c6.44,4.06,8.37,12.56,4.31,19Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path class="" d="m38.06,17.07c-.49.77-1.51,1-2.28.52s-1-1.51-.52-2.28,1.51-1,2.28-.52,1,1.51.52,2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path class="" d="m38.78,21.88c-.49.77-1.51,1-2.28.52s-1-1.51-.52-2.28,1.51-1,2.28-.52,1,1.51.52,2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path class="" d="m36.94,30.1c-.49.77-1.51,1-2.28.52s-1-1.51-.52-2.28,1.51-1,2.28-.52,1,1.51.52,2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path class="" d="m34.15,34.08c-.49.77-1.51,1-2.28.52s-1-1.51-.52-2.28,1.51-1,2.28-.52,1,1.51.52,2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path class="" d="m17.71,39.41c-.49.77-1.51,1-2.28.52s-1-1.51-.52-2.28,1.51-1,2.28-.52,1,1.51.52,2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path class="" d="m22.1,37.65c.49-.77,1.51-1,2.28-.52s1,1.51.52,2.28-1.51,1-2.28.52-1-1.51-.52-2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path class="" d="m1.22,18.63c.49-.77,1.51-1,2.28-.52s1,1.51.52,2.28-1.51,1-2.28.52-1-1.51-.52-2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path class="" d="m7.66,6.79c.49-.77,1.51-1,2.28-.52s1,1.51.52,2.28-1.51,1-2.28.52-1-1.51-.52-2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path class="" d="m14.9,3.48c.49-.77,1.51-1,2.28-.52s1,1.51.52,2.28-1.51,1-2.28.52-1-1.51-.52-2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path class="" d="m22.05,3.47c.49-.77,1.51-1,2.28-.52s1,1.51.52,2.28-1.51,1-2.28.52-1-1.51-.52-2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path class="" d="m35.32,11.71c-.49.77-1.51,1-2.28.52s-1-1.51-.52-2.28,1.51-1,2.28-.52,1,1.51.52,2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><path class="" d="m7.21,31.9c-.49.77-1.51,1-2.28.52s-1-1.51-.52-2.28,1.51-1,2.28-.52,1,1.51.52,2.28Z" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></path><line x1="19.92" y1="1.55" x2="19.92" y2="41.65" vector-effect="non-scaling-stroke"></line></g></svg></a><div class="hidden xl:block"><div class="uppercase">Twelve Earths</div><div>c.2017-2029</div><div class="-scale-y-100">c.2029-2040</div></div></div><div class="flex-1 xl:flex-auto xl:col-span-3"><div class="h-full flex flex-col justify-between"><div class="flex justify-between space-x-2">
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62<script id="vike_pageContext" type="application/json">{"pageProps":{"data":{"title":"About","slug":"about","intro":"\u003cp>The story of Earth\u003cbr />\nis written\u003cbr />\nby multitudes\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The story of Earth\u003cbr />\nis written\u003cbr />\nwithin your body\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>4 billion years\u003cbr />\n8 billion people\u003cbr />\n\u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em>\u003c/p>","blocks":"\u003cdiv class=\"markdown space-y-4\">\n \u003cp>At the limit of comprehension, there is âworld.â For humans, âworldâ is proxy for Earth: a beginning and a functional limit, a maximum unit. Earthâs energiesâits forces, capacities, temporalities, and intensitiesâcreate the frame of possibility for our existence, our perceptions and reality. Yet even as we reach a horizon of globality, Earth remains wanton, escaping us through mysterious registries and vast scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This materially real and immanent complexity is the point of departure for \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> (2017-2029), a planetary sculpture scaled to Earth itself. Designed by \u003ca href=\"https://michaeljonesmckean.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Jones McKean,\u003c/a> with critical support from \u003ca href=\"https://www.fathomers.org/michaeljonesmckean\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Fathomers,\u003c/a> the project unfurls as a series of collaborations centered at twelve distinct sitesâan impact crater, a nuclear testing ground, a primeval forest, a nearly submerged island, an open pit mine, and moreâthat together build a portrait of Earth, its converging timescales, and its interconnections. Improbably, these 12 sites are located along a single geographical ring: one unifying âgreat circleâ stretching 25,000 miles around the planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each site unveils a collection of panoptic realities that, through the lens of \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em>, encourages an exploration of speculative inter-belonging with life, objects, time, processes, and events. By composing systems sensitized to place and elasticized to scale, McKean and collaborators forge surprising connections that remain responsive to criss-crossing vectors shaping a locationâs realityâits histories, politics, languages, and customs, along with vast expanses of pre-human history. This practice of radical learning and engagement happens twelve different times as the projectâs research platform develops and grows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By building a dense meshwork of contact points, \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> establishes the possibility of brief and long-form encounters where time/space distances can swirl, collapse, and dissolve. It creates portals to contemplate birth, death, decay, transmutation, emergence, alchemy, architecture, flora, fauna, and geology, rendering distributed phenomena momentarily visible, knowable, and strange. A constellation reporting to us in our time and simultaneously extending a beacon to unknown and distant futures, \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> transcends boundaries to expand, deepen, and release our planetary imaginary.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>\n","faq":[{"question":"\u003cp>What is \u003cem>Twelve Earths?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>","answer":"\u003cp>\u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> [c. 2017-2029] is a planetary sculpture exploring radical interconnectivity along a 25,000-mile circular path, linking 12 diverse locations around the planet. Together, these locations form an emergent commons to practice creative intimacy, empathy, and communion with Earthâits matter, histories, temporalities, and life, manifold expressions interweaving us all.\u003c/p>"},{"question":"\u003cp>Who is making \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em>?\u003c/p>","answer":"\u003cp>The project is led by artist Michael Jones McKean with critical, long-term support from Fathomers, a creative research institute based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Working alongside McKean are a number of international thinkers and practitioners from the sciences, arts, philosophy, government, history, business, technology, philanthropy, and more.\u003c/p>"},{"question":"\u003cp>Who is the project for?\u003c/p>","answer":"\u003cp>\u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> is an artwork that operates at a planetary scale, forging hyper-local connections with partners and individuals at each of the 12 sites, while also building a decentralized audienceâpeo
62ple interested in art, ecology, the sciences, geopoetics, and moreâwho might not be geographically near the ring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A central value of \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> is to hold connections across disciplines, backgrounds, and borders, centering relationship-building as an organic process. As such, these connections might coalesce in myriad forms and scales: a simple conversation after an event, a group visiting a site, or a volunteer effort to remediate a grass plain. The project attempts to dissolve the theatrical distinction of \"actor\" and \"audience,\" enfolding them as one.\u003c/p>"},{"question":"\u003cp>Is \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> a sculpture?\u003c/p>","answer":"\u003cp>Yes. Early on in the project's development, McKean, a sculptor by training, imagined Earth as a natural human thresholdâa common plane of shared material existence that we ourselves are composed of and also bound within. This materiality, in all its recombinant potential, forms an alchemic foundry of Earthly possibility, acknowledging that all matter exists in a state of becoming. The project imagines sculpture as an expanded creative tool, one of deep learning tied to empathic rituals with people, matter, making, and transformation.\u003c/p>"},{"question":"\u003cp>Why 12 sites?\u003c/p>","answer":"\u003cp>\u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> lives in communion with mythic, folkloric, and spiritual traditions that celebrate interconnectivity. The number 12 has held significance in cultures around the world, showing up in everything from timekeeping systems to musical notes, astrological houses, counting systems, magic symbolism, and much more.\u003c/p>"},{"question":"\u003cp>How were the locations determined?\u003c/p>","answer":"\u003cp>Determining 12 sites, each linked formally along a continuous path around the globe, required three years of research. The process began with the development of a coordinate database hosting thousands of global locations that each relayed different chapters of Earthâs larger story. An algorithm was then developed to sift through the database spatially, drawing millions of paths, or rings, around the Earth. Out of 67 million potential routes, a handful of rings emerged that, against geographic odds, connected a few locations in our database. These few dozen rings were studied by hand over many months to reveal four ringsâeach remarkable, strange, mysterious, and tonally idiosyncraticâthat were then studied in more granular detail. By this thorough research, supported by conversations with partners around the world, \u003cem>Twelve Earths'\u003c/em> ring path gradually and gracefully emerged.\u003c/p>"},{"question":"\u003cp>When is it happening?\u003c/p>","answer":"\u003cp>Currently. Initially developed in 2017, \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> will continue to unfold across 12 years until 2029. At this point, the project will then enfold over an additional 12 years, reaching its full articulation by the September equinox of 2040. By design, the work exists in different forms indefinitely, continuing to pose questions along deeper timelines in the future.\u003c/p>"},{"question":"\u003cp>Why take so long to finish an artwork?\u003c/p>","answer":"\u003cp>\u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> takes cues from the natural speed of the planet. As a team, we are prioritizing building slow, respectful dialogue with local stakeholders at each site. Relationships take precedence over predetermined outcomes, allowing true conversationsâand friendshipsâto blossom. We think of slowness not as an obstacle to surmount, but as a care practice that deepens engagement and helps us to be in right relationship with each other and the Earth.\u003c/p>"},{"question":"\u003cp>When will the sites be revealed?\u003c/p>","answer":"\u003cp>Though all twelve sites were determined in 2019, their announcements to the public will be staggered with locations being revealed in the years leading up to 2029. Two sites have been announced so far. The first location, announced on the equinox of September 22, 2022, is Cerros Pachón and Tololo. Located in the Coquimbo region of Chileâs Andes Mountains, this site houses a cluster of powerful telescopes destined to capture the most complete map of the universe ever created. The second site, announced one year later on the equinox of September 23, 2023, is Abrigo do Lagar Velho. This rock shelter, located in the Lapedo Valley of Portugalâs District of Leiria, contains the 29,000-year-old remains of a four-year-old child, remains which question our perceptions of what it means to be human. The third location announcement is forthcoming in March 2024.\u003c/p>"},{"question":"\u003cp>How do I experience \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em>?\u003c/p>","answer":"\u003cp>\u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> exists as 12 physical locations whose connections are being articulated sculpturally and poetically. While it is certainly possibleâand would be rewardingâto visit each \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> location, the artwork can be experienced without any travel at all. Local and regional programming will be developed over the longer arc of the project. Participation, however one may define it, may encompass events hosted by affiliated
62institutions or virtual opportunities for engagement wherever you and your devices may be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> is deeply rooted in specific, singular places, it also exists through ideas, which allows it to be experienced from numerous vantage points. \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> by and large is a cognitive antenna that helps modulate concrete aspects of the Earth into signalsâstoriesâthat help re-mythologize place and re-world our conception of Earth.\u003c/p>"},{"question":"\u003cp>Is there an archive?\u003c/p>","answer":"\u003cp>Yes. The project's physical archive is currently housed at McKean's studio and will be relocated to the Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art after the project's completion. The archive acts as a crumb trail to the project's origins, its methodologies, early and ongoing conversations, source materials, and library, as well as location research, history, geology, current events, and more. A curated archive will also exist and continue to be updated on the \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> website. At each site, a number of artworks are being developed, some with an eye toward long durations, in effect serving as an in situ planetary archive.\u003c/p>"},{"question":"\u003cp>How is \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> being funded?\u003c/p>","answer":"\u003cp>\u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> has received critical support from Fathomers since 2017. The project has also received early generous support from a number of organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts, Sable Systems, WeTransfer, Blueprint Pictures, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. \u003cem>Twelve Earthsâ\u003c/em> unusual form, a large-scale artwork wedded to a planetary body and stretched out over non-traditional time horizons, creates funding challenges still to be solved.\u
62003c/p>"},{"question":"\u003cp>How can I become involved?\u003c/p>","answer":"\u003cp>In many cases, the best way to experience \u003cem>Twelve Earths\u003c/em> is through deep and active involvement. An artwork at this scale and complexity requires the uplift and support of many voices and skill sets: engineering, material sciences, bio-sciences, geology, wayfinding, philanthropy, and so much more. If this sounds like you and you want to learn more about ways to contribute to the work itself, or if you would like to simply receive occasional updates and advance notice of public events and announcements, please be in touch at [email protected]. If you wish to explore ways to help lift the project through financial support, we are also eager to speak with you.\u003c/p>"}]}},"title":"About","description":"!undefined","theme":"!undefined","subMenu":"!undefined","openGraph":"!undefined","favicon":"!undefined","abortReason":"!undefined","_urlRewrite":null,"_urlRedirect":"!undefined","abortStatusCode":"!undefined","_abortCall":"!undefined","_pageContextInitHasClientData":"!undefined","_pageId":"/pages/about"}</script>
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