TWELVE EARTHS SITE 03 Announcement
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Fathomers and Michael Jones McKean Studio are excited to announce Nördlinger Ries, a massive 14.7 million-year-old impact crater hidden in plain view in the Bavarian countryside, as the third site in McKean’s long-form planetary sculpture, Twelve Earths.
Nestled beneath checkered farmlands and red-roofed buildings, just north of the Danube River, lies a circular, 16-mile-wide meteor crater. The meteor’s impact, its force and heat, created a new type of rock in a millisecond—suevite—that is full of microscopic diamonds, some 79,000 tons in aggregate. These same stones were quarried to build the medieval town of Nördlingen, which sits near the center of the crater.
Discovered in 1960, the Ries is one of the best preserved and most studied craters on Earth, sharing close morphological similarities with impressions found only on other planets and moons.
“Nördlinger Ries is a story of touch,”
says artist Michael Jones McKean.
“The crater itself is a fingerprint, a geophysical recording of an ancient event. But, as one walks around Nördlingen today, it’s easy to feel this fleeting moment of contact reverberating through time, touching us—a kaleidoscopic echo continuing to transform all around it.”
Since 2018, McKean has been engaging with local interlocutors in Nördlingen, including the RiesKrater Museum, which celebrates the history of the Ries Crater, and the Stadtarchiv, Nördlingen’s city archive. The Stadtarchiv contains one of the most complete and nuanced histories of a city of its size on Earth, documenting Nördlingen’s founding and evolution over 1,200 years.
Dr. Johannes Moosdiele-Hitzler, Director and Archivist of the Stadtarchiv in Nördlingen says,
“Nördlingen has a special charm. Traditions are still lived here, historical awareness is awake and creates community and identity. It is fascinating to see how the city and its rich history have continued to inspire people for generations. With his project, Michael is another link in a chain of researchers, writers, and artists that began hundreds of years ago.”
[translated from German]
This announcement follows the public release of two other Twelve Earths sites: Abrigo do Lagar Velho, a famed Paleolithic rock shelter in Portugal, and Cerros Pachón and Tololo in Chile, home to dozens of the world's most powerful telescopes, including the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which will achieve first light later this year.
Looking ahead into 2025, McKean and Fathomers will name five more Twelve Earths sites in a quickening chain of announcements.
David Kim, Fathomers’ Associate Director, says,
“Supported by years of careful research and planning, Nördlinger Ries adds another specific contour to the ambitious sweep of Twelve Earths. Each site rests on a foundation of local collaborations, each such relationship a thread in the warp and weft of the project. We’re thrilled to share more and more of Twelve Earths and invite new collaborators and audiences into the project.”
To learn more about Twelve Earths, or how to become involved in the project, please visit twelveearths.com. For press or media inquiries, please access the press kit and contact yes@fathomers.org.
Image credits (top to bottom, left to right): 1) Artist rendering, Nördlingen along Twelve Earths ring. Credit: Michael Jones McKean Studio and Sofia Kadar/CG Wurx; 2) Aerial view of Nördlingen. Credit: Klaus Leidorf; 3) Rendering depicting Ries crater a million years after impact. Credit: Science Photo Library; 4) Nördlingen city walls. Credit: Petroso; 5) Detailed view of Nördlingen's suevite brick. Credit: Michael Jones McKean Studio; 6) Relief map, Nördlingen Ries impact crater. Credit: Batholith
ABOUT MICHAeL JONES MCKEAN
Michael Jones McKean (b. Micronesia, lives/works in the US and France) is a sculptor whose work explores the nature of objects in relation to folklore, technology, anthropology, and geography. McKean has received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Nancy Graves Foundation Award, and has lectured and shown his work extensively around the world. He is currently an Associate Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in the Sculpture + Extended Media Department; a Contributing Editor for Art Papers; and the Artist-in-Residence of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, Museu de Leiria, and the Centro de Interpretação do Abrigo do Lagar Velho.
ABOUT Nördlinger Ries
Nördlinger Ries is a 14.7 million-year-old impact crater in Bavaria, Germany within which is the circular medieval city of Nördlingen . The Ries is the only crater of its kind on Earth. Its depression, which formed in the Miocene, is a type of Rampart crater, a formation which has otherwise only been found on the surface of Mars. This combined with the unique presence of suevite makes it a site of compelling geological intrigue and study.