A series of round close ups of rock-like objects, where a mineral surface can be read in its eccentricity, comprise Faivovich & Goldberg’s (b. 1977, Buenos Aires, b. 1978, Paris/Buenos Aires) prints from the Número series. Radiant iridescent flows of rock are overlapped in abstract cosmic landscapes that glow with the potentiality of new matter. These images originated as part of their research on microphotography, producing and examining thinly sliced sections of a Campo del Cielo meteorite, and exploring and capturing the stunningly brilliant and mysterious silicate inclusions.
For the past ten years the duo has been deploying a body of work that revolves around the cultural impact of Campo del Cielo (Field of the Sky), a crater field situated in Argentina’s northeastern region. This continuous journey has led them to an ongoing program of worldwide fieldwork in which the artists’ approach to these iron masses includes bibliographical inquiry, archival research, and interaction with those who have been involved in the history of the region. About 4,000 years ago an intense iron meteor shower struck the Earth at Campo del Cielo. This event created one of the largest crater fields known anywhere on the planet. During the 16th century, the recently arrived Spaniards decided to search the land for iron, which they heard the natives were using to make weapons. During the ‘20s, geologist Juan José Nágera embarked on a mission to discover if the craters actually belonged to meteors, concluding that they did not.
It was not until 1962 – a historical moment marked by the Space Race – that a farmer discovered El Taco, a two-ton meteorite which brought much attention to the site. The United States managed an agreement with the Argentinian government to split the stone in two. In 2010, Faivovich & Goldberg exhibited El Taco at Portikus, Frankfurt, where the two main masses were reunited after almost forty-five years of being apart, and published their book The Campo del Cielo Meteorites – Vol. 1: El Taco, edited by Documenta 13. JV + MM
self-presentation:
On June 1, 2006, after driving northbound for about 1,100 kilometers, we found ourselves staring at a massive 37-ton iron meteorite, at a site called Campo del Cielo, which became our case study. Since then, we’ve been working together and wondering around, deep into our country, crossing over oceans and cultures. Stemming from our ten-year collaboration, we can recall the beauty of the native forest of the Chaco region and the sour feeling of witnessing its destruction, or a discovery at the Smithsonian Institution’s treasure-warehouses. Libraries and archives, wherever they are: from astonishing accumulations at the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut in Berlin to the supposedly burnt-to-ashes Santiago del Estero archives, in the form of books, manuscripts, letters, or pictures in any format or medium. Planes, cars, legwork, and the right set of questions as transportation. Places and people we stumble upon, and the support of our families, keeps us going.
