In these troubled times, it sometimes takes little to stir the human imagination.
Since last week, it is a "monolith" of silvery metal about three meters high discovered in the canyons of glistening rock of the Utah desert that is shaking the planet.
All the ingredients are there to make this story fascinating: an unidentified object with an "extraterrestrial" aura found in the middle of nowhere by employees of a national park in search of bighorn sheep, speculation on the possible author of this “art object”, an unreal resemblance to the monolith of Stanley Kubrick's “2001, A Space Odyssey”, and a disappearance just as mysterious as its appearance ...
How does the story start?
The monolith was "discovered" on Nov. 18 by officers from the Aviation Bureau of the Utah Department of Public Safety.
They were flying in a helicopter, helping the Division of Wildlife Resources count bighorn sheep in southeast Utah, when they spotted an object that appeared to come straight out of "2001: A space ".
“One of the biologists spotted him and we flew directly over him,” pilot Bret Hutchings told local CNN-affiliated KSL.
And it was there, in the middle of the red rock so characteristic of this part of the Red Rock Desert, that the shiny silver metal piece was precisely spotted.
"I guess it's a new wave artist, or someone who was a huge Kubrick and
2001
fan
who planted it there," the pilot even commented, referring to a scene from the movie. of 1968 when a monolith - black, for its part - appears.
The monolith immediately fascinates
Quickly, Internet users and sports hiking enthusiasts try to locate the object and specify its precise topographical coordinates, which the State services are careful not to do.
"It is illegal to install structures or works of art without permission on public land" no matter what planet you are from, "the public security department of the city said simply, not without humor. 'Utah in a statement released Nov. 23.
Visit the @UtahDPS website for background info: https://t.co/PzLqU4cQaa
- BLM Utah (@BLMUtah) November 24, 2020
The coordinates are shared under the mantle on social networks like Reddit, and several hikers in turn discover this obscure object of desire.
Among the first, David Surber, who made a video of the object, gives a precise description: the monolith is in reality made of stainless steel, it is not at all magnetized like another metal would be and is made of three separate riveted parts.
Two rivets are missing even on the top of the “work”, he tells us by email.
The object is not that far from civilization, also specifies the hiker.
Contacted by Le Parisien, he was one of the first to go there.
“I arrived at 5 am.
I could have sworn I had seen a dozen shooting stars, it was so dark, with almost no light pollution.
[…].
Then I used a GPS to find the monolith, but in the dark it still took me an hour.
I have been down the wrong canyons several times.
I then looked around the corners and saw its glow in the starlight, ”he recalls, still amazed.
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“I had been awake for 30 hours by then, driving 6 hours and going through pitch darkness to reach coordinates that weren't even guaranteed.
The feeling of peace I had when I found him there was incredible.
I had the object for me for ten minutes, then people arrived ”, tells us again the“ adventurer ”.
David Surber in front of the monolith./@davidsurber_ via REUTERS
The presence of the monolith aroused great enthusiasm: once its exact coordinates had been shared, Internet users attempted to trace the "past" of the "silver pole".
What is its origin ?
Of all the theories, obviously of extraterrestrial provenance, the most likely speculation is that it could be the work of John McCracken, a minimalist sculptor who has always had an affinity for science fiction.
According to the New York Times, the David Zwirner gallery, which has exhibited the artist's work since 1997 and represents his estate, has also claimed that the mysterious monolith is a real “McCracken”.
Two problems, however, in this tantalizing theory.
First, the artist died in 2011. Then, if it is one of his works, McCracken would have managed to plant it there without ever telling his family, his gallery owner or his friends.
The artist's son, Patrick McCracken, remains perplexed by the appearance of this monolith.
In an interview with the New York Times, he thought back to an evening in May 2002, when his father lived in Medanales, New Mexico, in a small house overlooking a mesa (a mesa is a rocky plateau typical of arid landscapes, especially in the southwestern United States).
“We were standing outside looking at the stars and he said something to this effect, that he would like to leave his works of art in distant places to discover them later,” he recalled.
“He was inspired by the idea of extraterrestrial visitors leaving objects that resemble his work, or that his work resembles it.
This discovery of a monolithic piece is completely in line with his artistic vision, ”he added, bringing a little more trouble to this“ fantastic ”story.
To spice it up, John McCracken was indeed an avid reader of science fiction and believed in time travel or alien life.
His close friends included actor Leonard Nimoy, the pointy-eared hero who played the famous Lieutenant Spock in "Star Strek".
In concrete terms, the Utah monolith, a hollow column, conforms to the lesser-known stainless steel sculptures of McCracken's work, but some gallery owners consulted by the American press doubt its “authenticity”.
Indeed, an important detail has shaken up this beautiful story.
Some detectives online, with the help of Google Earth archives and location coordinates have managed to determine when the sculpture first materialized in the desert.
Based on photographs, they claim that she was placed there in 2016 (Editor's note, October 21, first date of appearance), long after McCracken's death.
The improbable object was not present during the previous version of Google Earth, in August 2015.
The Utah Monolith in 2016./Google Earth
Disappearance
But as the world got lost in guesswork as to its origin, the metal monolith vanished, as mysteriously as it had happened.
The Utah authorities clarified that they had not touched it and that they had no authority to investigate this disappearance which could only be the responsibility of the local sheriff.
Hikers have also noticed the “evaporation” of this “obelisk” on the spot.
“The monolith met a rapid fate even before our arrival.
Only the triangular top remained as well as part of the foundations.
If I had to speculate, it was probably dismantled by someone determined to prevent the bad curiosity that tends to ruin attractive sites, ”commented one of these, Jack Waters.
The "monolith" obelisk met a swift fate before we arrived.
Only the triangular top remained as well as parts of the below-ground base.
If I ventured a guess, it was probably dismantled by someone determined to prevent careless curiosity that tends to ruin alluring sites.
pic.twitter.com/kXP5KypmlS
- Jack Waters 🌹🇸🇪 (@ h2oetry) November 29, 2020
Surprised by the disappearance of the object, David Suber came to his own conclusions.
“At first, I thought it was the authorities who removed it, because it was an illegal structure.
But now I guess someone took it.
I think it would be surprising if it appeared elsewhere in a few months, ”imagines its“ discoverer ”in an email he sent us.
“No matter where it came from, this monolith has given thousands of people the opportunity to once again come together around something positive.
It was a good escape from all the negativity that we experienced in 2020, ”he laughs.
“From the start, I had hopes that it was an alien object.
Who wouldn't want that to be one… Yet deep down I knew he was probably just a very patient artist or a fan of “2001: A Space Odyssey”.
