Friday, November 27, 2020





Utah monolith: Internet sleuths got there, but its origins are still a mystery

Kevin Ponniah and Ashitha Nagesh - BBC News
Fri, November 27, 2020, 4

It took just 48 hours for the first person to get there.

When officials in Utah on Monday revealed they had found a shimmering, metal structure deep in the Red Rock desert, they refused to say exactly where.

They hoped that would be enough to deter amateur adventurers from setting off to find it, risking getting dangerously lost in the process.

But there was little chance that people would abide by this advice. By Wednesday, pictures were emerging on Instagram of people triumphantly posing with the monolith, eager to show the world that they had got there first - even if the wider mystery of why it is there remains unsolved.

They were aided by internet sleuths who had quickly geo-located the structure on Google Earth and posted the co-ordinates online.

"I decided to go there first because I was drawn to the fact that this object had been there for five years, hidden in nature," said David Surber, a 33-year-old former US Army infantry officer who drove six hours through the night after finding a Reddit post claiming to have found the exact location.

State wildlife officials originally spotted the object on 18 November while conducting a helicopter flyover of the remote, Mars-like terrain to count big horn sheep. The Reddit user who posted the co-ordinates, Tim Slane, said he had tracked the flight path of the helicopter until it went off-radar - a sign it might have landed.
David Surber saw the apparent co-ordinates online and decided he had to be the first one there

At this point, he scanned the map for the exact features of the terrain seen in official photos and videos, before zeroing in on a canyon that appeared to fit the bill. There, a distinct shadow - long and narrow - could be seen. It's not visible in historic satellite imagery from 2015, but appears in October 2016 when scrubland in the vicinity also appears to have been cleared.

"I knew that once the location became public knowledge that people would visit the area," said Mr Slane. "I have received some angry messages for my revealing of the location. If I had not found it, someone else would likely have found it soon enough."
Satellite images showing the location of the Utah monolith

David, who lives in Utah, swung into action - telling the Reddit community of thousands following the mystery that he was heading there. On the way, he was bombarded with hundreds of messages and requests. They included things like: "Bring a magnet in case there is a secret door!"

He arrived in the early hours when it was still pitch black. At first he was alone, marvelling not just at the monolith but at shooting stars. Then others started to turn up, also having found the coordinates online. He was thrilled to report his find back to Reddit.

"It was a good escape from all the negativity we've experienced in 2020."
David Surber filming himself inside the canyon near the monolith

But two questions remain: who put the structure there, and why?

While many have suggested - some sincerely, most in jest - that the monolith was planted by extra-terrestrial visitors, the prevailing theory is that it is an as-yet-unclaimed conceptual artwork.

Initially experts suggested it may have been an unknown work by the late John McCracken, who is known for his "plank" sculptures. His gallerist David Zwirner initially confirmed this, but the gallery later retracted that statement, saying they believed it was another artist paying homage instead. McCracken died in 2011.

Some online then narrowed in on another artist, Petecia Le Fawnhawk, who installs totemic sculptures in secret desert locations and, crucially, used to live and work in Utah.

But she told the online art magazine Artnet that while she "did have the thought to plant secret monuments in the desert", she "cannot claim this one". So the creator of the totem remains a mystery for now.
John McCracken - the late artist many first pointed to when the news broke

It's not uncommon for artworks to be installed in remote locations - either as sculptures, or as "land art", a form of art that makes use of its natural surroundings. For many of these pieces, the journey to get there is as much a part of the artwork as the actual installation.

One of the most famous examples of this is Walter de Maria's The Lightning Field. Its exact location is a tightly-guarded secret - all that is known is that it's in the high desert of western New Mexico, although small groups of visitors can book to be taken there. Another is the temporary land art of Martin Hill and Philippa Jones, such as Synergy - a piece that was installed in Lake Wanaka, New Zealand, in 2009.
David Surber's picture of the monolith

Andy Merritt, a British artist who creates outdoor public sculptures as part of the duo, Something and Son, said that when he saw stories about the Utah monolith, he thought it was "either an artist, or a rich person who's got fantasies around 2001: A Space Odyssey".

"There are so many artists who do stuff in unusual places, especially in America," said Merritt, who plans to "fossilise" a suburban house in Milton Keynes, north of London, next spring by pouring a mixture into the interior and making a cast of its negative space. "Even in my own work, we always want to be doing things in unusual places.

"If you took what they did in the middle of Utah - presuming it is an artist - and put it in another location, like a public square, it would be a lot less interesting. It's the landscape itself that really is the talking point."

Video from the dozens - perhaps even hundreds of people - who have already visited the location suggest a professional job. Three large sheets of what appears to be stainless steel were riveted together, with the inside left hollow. Whoever put it there used heavy-duty tools to cut into the bedrock and embed the structure.

"One person alone could not have done it so there is a group of people who have some knowledge of it somewhere," said Wendy Wischer of the University of Utah's School of Fine Art. "Most artists want some recognition for what they are doing but this seems to include a level of humour and mystery as part of the intention."

David Surber, reflecting on his trip to the monolith, admitted he at first hoped its origins would be "otherworldly".

"Yet deep down inside you know it was most likely just a very patient artist or Space Odyssey 2001 fan."

Like Andy Merritt, he's referring to the imposing black monoliths that play an important, but mysterious, role in the 1968 Stanley Kubrick science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In an interview on Thursday, a public information officer at the Utah Department of Public Safety told the BBC that while they don't encourage anyone to travel to the monolith because it could be dangerous, they can't do anything to stop them as the area is public land. No decision has been made to remove it.

"The genie is out of the bottle," said Cpl Andrew Battenfield, when told people had been turning up and posting pictures on social media. "It's a free country."

Utah monolith: First people find mysterious object after frenzy of online sleuthing


Shweta Sharma
Fri, November 27, 2020,
Expert claims to have answer to mysterious desert monolith (AP)

It took just 48 hours for the first member of the public to reach the bizarre metal monolith that was discovered by officials in the Utah desert.

Utah Department of Public Safety and Division of Wildlife Resources spotted the mysterious object from a helicopter on 18 November while counting sheep in the remote, Mars-like terrain of southeastern Utah.

In social media posts recounting their discovery, officials at first refused to reveal its precise location for fear of amateur adventurers getting lost in the remote area trying to see it for themselves.

However, this only added to the mystery of a post that sparked comparisons to the iconic sci-fi movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and wild theories of aliens and UFOs.

Guided by co-ordinates posted online by internet sleuths on Reddit, by Wednesday people were flocking to the structure and pictures of hikers posing with the 12ft monolith flooded social media.

Watch: Metal monolith discovered in Utah sparks mystery
https://news.yahoo.com/utah-monolith-first-people-mysterious-071629967.html

David Surber, a 33-year-old former US Army infantry officer in Utah, wasted no time and drove six hours through the night following the co-ordinates posted online.

"I decided to go there first because I was drawn to the fact that this object had been there for five years, hidden in nature," said Mr Surber. "It was a good escape from all the negativity we've experienced in 2020."

Mr Surber, thrilled to see the marvel, was constantly updating his thousands of followers on Reddit - eager to share his other-worldly experience.

Soon, others started to join him at the site of the discovery, and those who could not bombarded him with comments. One asked him to bring a magnet in case “there is a secret door".

Tim Slane, the Reddit user who located the monolith through Google Earth and posted the co-ordinates, reveals he tracked the path of helicopter which first found the monolith and zeroed in where it went off-radar.

"I knew that once the location became public knowledge that people would visit the area," said Mr Slane. "I have received some angry messages for my revealing of the location. If I had not found it, someone else would likely have found it soon enough."

Despite its discovery by officials and now members of the public, the mystery of where it came from remains unsolved.

Keeping aside the wild theories about UFOs, the logical explanation by art experts is that it might be the work of late artist John McCracken.

However, neither the gallerist of the artist or anyone else has come forward to claim knowledge of its origin.

Watch: Utah Highway patrol speaks on the discovery of the monolith

Mysterious metal monolith found in the wilds of Utah

Expert claims to have answer to mysterious desert monolith

Officials not giving out remote location for fear visitors would need rescu
ing 

Graeme Massie
Los Angeles


A mysterious monolith found in the wilds of Utah is believed to be an artistic homage paid to a dead minimalist sculptor.

The 12ft high stainless steel structure was spotted in remote backcountry by a state employee counting sheep from a helicopter.

Art experts had speculated that the object resembled the “free-standing plank structures” of the late artist John McCracken.

Mr McCracken lived in New Mexico before his death and his work is represented by the David Zwirner Gallery.

Mr Zwirner said he initially believed it was “definitely” a secret piece by Mr McCracken before ruling it out.


"While this is not a work by the late American artist John McCracken, we suspect it is a work by a fellow artist paying homage to McCracken,” Mr Zwirner told the Art Newspaper.

Lieutenant Nick Street of the state’s Department of Public Safety said that they believed “it’s somebody’s art installation, or an attempt at that.”

He said that the monolith had “human-made rivets” and was buried into the rock to an unknown depth.

“Somebody took the time to use some type of concrete-cutting tool or something to really dig down, almost in the exact shape of the object, and embed it really well,” he said.

“It’s odd. There are roads close by, but to haul the materials to cut into the rock, and haul the metal, which is taller than 12 feet in sections — to do all that in that remote spot is definitely interesting.”

Lieutenant Street admitted that authorities had no idea how long it had been in the location.

“For all we know it’s been installed since the 1940s and 1950s,” he said.

Officials have not given details of the monolith’s exact location amid fears that visitors could become stuck and need rescuing.

“It is illegal to install structures or art without authorisation on federally managed public lands, no matter what planet you’re from,” the department said in a statement.

Mysterious metal monolith found in the wilds of Utah

Mysterious metal monolith found in the wilds of Utah by team of biologists

The structure was planted into the ground and made of a smooth metal

Graig Graziosi
3 days ago


A strange monolith has been found in the wilds of Utah after a state employee spotted it from a helicopter

The employee found the structure while counting sheep from the sky. 

The monolith is estimated to stand between 10 and 12 feet high, and appeared to be hidden amongst the rocks and planted into the ground. 

It is made of smooth, black-grey metal, unlike anything seen in the nearby red rocks.  

KSLTV, a local news station, interviewed Bret Hutchings, the pilot who helped discover the monolith. 

“That’s been about the strangest thing that I’ve come across out there in all my years of flying,” he told the broadcaster.

Mr Hutchings said a biologists counting bighorn sheep in the helicopter was the first one to spot the structure. 

“He was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, turn around, turn around!’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And he’s like, ‘There’s this thing back there – we’ve got to go look at it!’” Mr Hutchings said. 

He noted the object's similarity to the iconic evolutionary monolith featured in a famous Stanley Kubrick film. Mr Hutchings believes it's likely a work of art. 

“I’m assuming it’s some new wave artist or something or, you know, somebody that was a big 2001: A Space Odyssey fan,” he said. 

Mr Hutchings and the helicopter crew landed to take a closer look at the monolith, which sits in the center of a small canyon cul-de-sac. 

“We were kind of joking around that if one of us suddenly disappears, then the rest of us make a run for it,” he said. 

If the monolith is an art installation, it won't be the first time a pop culture reference is built miles away from civilization. 

Last year, German-Namibian artist Max Siendentopf constructed an art installation consisting of seven white pillars, an mp3 player, and seven speakers. 

The art installation was built in the middle of the Namib Desert in Namibia and plays the Toto song "Africa" on repeat. 

The artist refused to give the exact location of the piece, saying it is "like a treasure that only the most loyal of Toto fans can find."



2001: A Space Odyssey fans lose minds over discovery of monolith in Utah desert



‘A barrel of monkeys were just spotted heading south out of Utah,’ one fan quipped

Jacob Stolworthy@Jacob_Stol
3 days ago

Fans of 2001: A Space Odyssey are getting quite excited following the discovery of a large monolith in the Utah desert.

The structure was first spotted by a state employee from a helicopter.

It was later discovered by the Utah Department of Public Safety and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

The monolith, which is made of smooth, black-grey metal, is said to stand between an estimated 10 and 12 feet.

It appears to be planted into the ground and looks unlike anything in the surrounding area
.
The monolith was first spotted from a helicopter in Utah
(PA)


In Stanley Kubrick's 1968 science-fiction film, an adaptation of Arthur C Clarke’s short story The Sentinel, a similar monolith is discovered by a tribe of appears in a prehistoric African location.

Bret Hutchings, who was flying the helicopter, told KSLTV: “I’m assuming it’s some new wave artist or something or, you know, somebody that was a big 2001: A Space Odyssey fan.”

He called it “the strangest thing that I’ve come across out there in all my years of flying”.

“2020: A Space Odyssey was not on my bingo card for this year,” one person quipped, with another adding: “A barrel of monkeys were just spotted heading south out of Utah.”

A third 2001 fan wrote: “What will happen in December? The monolith. monkeys. It all comes together.”


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