Matthew Weir’s sculpture work: Presence
This project was a commission from the Louisville Downtown Management District (LDMD). The nature of the sign represents the most significant and/or relevant information from the history of earth. The two sets of information or plaques are, one; “Presence,” the namesake and a graphic diagram of a twenty-four hour metaphoric clock of planet earth, and two; “Pangaea: A Study of Change,” twelve paleogeographic maps of the break-up of the earth’s last supercontinent.
Presence, as read from the top of the plaque, depicts the twenty-four hour metaphoric clock of planet earth. The clock depicts a brief synopsis of significant events and developments throughout the approximately 4.6 billion years of the earth’s development. Pertaining to the graphic, 4.6 billion years ago (scientifically expressed as 4.6 Ga) is the time 00:00:00; whereas, “today,” the relative end of that metaphoric day, is noted as 24:00:00. Thus, all the earth’s major events are recorded as if they happened within a twenty-four hour period. Elsewhere on the plaque, one should note the bands of radial colors around the clock that correspond to an organism, plant, or animal group identified by the color legend. These bands of color begin at each subject’s earliest stages of development and continue around the clock throughout profound periods of evolutionary and planetary change.
Noted in the legend as “Hominids” and indicated by a small red mark, Homo sapiens evolved approximately one minute and seventeen seconds before midnight, roughly 200 ka. Hominids evolved into a distinct taxonomic identity approximately 7 Ma. Largely to open discussion about our human context in time and life, this clock metaphor is one particular version of a relatively well-known educational tool used in classrooms throughout the world. Primary manipulations of this clock consist of the insertion of the twenty-four hour Roman numeral clock, color selection, the inclusion of the previous five and current major extinction events, both keys, the word Presence, and the sculptural inclusion of the two brain hemispheres. The inclusion of the brains and the word Presence at the top of this work are meant to usher the conceptual gravity of this metaphor and its past and future implications for the planet and ourselves.
The opposite side of the marker, “Pangaea: A Study of Change,” provides twelve paleogeographic maps of the break up of the earth’s last supercontinent. These maps were modified for production and used with permission by their author paleogeologist Dr. Ronald Blakey of Northern Arizona University. (
visit link) These graphics begin at approximately the time of the last supercontinent Pangaea, 240 Ma, and highlight major continental drifting up to the point of 20 Ma, when the earth’s continental plates were arranged visually near to where they currently rest. The notable coloring of this plaque distinguishes the landmass (beige) from the oceans (dark blue) and the continental shelf (light blue). Furthermore, above each graphic are the numerical time, the geologic period, and the geologic epoch from the Geologic Time Scale (GTS). (Before the Paleogene Period, “early,” “middle” and “late,” are terms referenced as epochs.)2
The visualization of the supercontinent and subsequent drifting of the earth’s continental plates is intended to provide recognition of the ongoing changing nature of the ground beneath our feet and to affect our concepts of territories and boundaries. The earth is in constant motion as evidenced by the U.S. Geological Society’s records, which state that nearly 500,000 earthquakes occur every year and that the rate of a tectonic plate’s typical movement is relative to that of fingernail growth. The cycle of supercontinent creation and break-up is approximately 250-500 million years as hypothesized from geologic records. Scientists anticipating the convergence of the next supercontinent are already lobbying projections and names, Pangaea Ultima, Pangaea Proxima, and Amasia are a few.
Ultimately, each plaque carries profound significance for humanity and the consideration of the world around us; however, the correlation of time between the two plaques may aid in a more personal sense of discovery. For instance, pertaining to the Presence plaque, this side portrays all of geologic time, but from the formal GTS it only lists the Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic Eons and then the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic Eras, the last of which we are living. The twelve paleogeographic maps of Pangaea begin within the Mesozoic Era and continue through to the Cenozoic Era. The hour of Pangaea’s intact state as a supercontinent, according to the metaphoric clock, would be near 23:00:00, the last hour. Furthermore, within this hour there are three major extinction events, two of which are noted before 20 Ma (the last map) and both of which signal a new period in the geologic time scale. The first major extinction (#4) happens between maps two and three at roughly 205 Ma. This paleontological change is noted as the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event and signals the end the Triassic Period and the beginning of the Jurassic Period. This event also distinguishes the Triassic dinosaurs and the Jurassic dinosaurs, which both roamed the planet throughout these sequenced maps until the Cretaceous-Tertiary/Paleogene extinction event 65 Ma (#5). This event not only brought an end to the rule of the dinosaurs but also to the Cretaceous Period. Lastly, the correlation of the evolution of Homo sapiens and the sixth major extinction event (essentially the supporting evidence for the proposed new human affected epoch in time “Anthropocene”) should sound alarm bells throughout the world.