Rock Standard Time (RST): Betelhem Makonnen
Big Medium, Austin, Texas
March - September, 2020

Artwork
Adrian Aguilera and Betelhem Makonnen
Au + U⁣, 2020⁣
fiberglass, Bondo, car vinyl wrap, robots and two rocks at rest⁣

Conjugating the present, the two kinetic elements of Au + U orbit the cement pillar of the gallery clockwise, opposite to the counter-clockwise orientation of the exhibition as a whole.

The intersection of geological time with historical time. "Everything is now. It is all now." *

The origin story of the Anthropocene has to contend with the muted witnesses of History.

“No geology is neutral” **

The pursuit, extraction, and exploitation of Gold and Uranium have had an exaggerated influence in shaping our current world. Projects of conquest, oppression, massacre and War—with an uneven distribution of both responsibility and vulnerability across the globe—have been fueled by Au and U.⁣

However, it is highly unlikely that the minerals themselves have registered any importance to this.⁣

* Morrison, Toni. Beloved: A Novel. New York: Knopf, 1987. Pg. 198⁣
** Yusoff, Kathryn. A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None. Minneapolis, MN : University of Minnesota Press, 2018. Pg. 108.