Artefact, 2013

stone and gold-plated stainless steel

 

Landscape: A pebble beach at Arromanches, Normandy: pebbles, all similar, all different, “worked” by the eroding sea.

Subjectivity: From this multitude, I choose one that is not too round, and slightly flat.

Modification: The rays of the scanner translate the original pebble into a digital file. Its scale is then changed, keeping the original proportions, and the pebble is carved from a block of ancient stone by a programmed machine. The machine hollows out the block without changing its outward appearance.

Cloning: The stonecutter repeats the operation as often as required.

Use: Raised up by three fine

gold-plated legs, this cushion-sized pebble-cum-artefact can serve as a support for whatever one wishes to place on it.

 

For the archaeologist and anthropologist, an artefact is the generic term for an object made by a human being, as opposed to a natural phenomenon.

Even the slightest human action is enough to make an object an artefact.