Theories about the construction of Stonehenge, Easter Island’s Moai, or the Egyptian pyramids range from the mundane to the outrageous, so trying to imagine what people thousands of years from now will make of the above diagram – or the 340-ton boulder relocation project it represents – may be a futile exercise. Regardless, it’s a pretty safe bet that Levitated Mass, the artwork by Michael Heizer for which such a strange machine is needed, will be around for a while. Will the journey it’s taking over the next 10 days be shrouded in myth and mystery generations hence? That depends, at least in part, on Twitter’s usefulness to future archaeologists – the rock is documenting its trip via tweet.
Sourced from a quarry about a hundred miles from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where it will live out its days, the boulder will travel through four counties and 22 cities. Along the way, it will require roads to be closed, paths to be cleared and street signs and overhead wires to be temporarily removed in order to make way for its massive, custom-built transporter. The LA Times is following the project, as is Unframed, LACMA’s blog.
