carbon-14

Neutrons 8
Protons 6
Natural abundance 1 part per trillion
Half-life 5,730+/- 40 years
Isotope mass 14.003241 u
Spin 0+

Rotation is slowing down slightly over time; a day becomes longer than a century ago.
1.7 milliseconds.
Reconnection with the Earth.
Elements.
Connection to the unknown of the past and the secret of the future.

The project draws on several distinct historical narratives merging into a one story. The investigation starts from the pencil factory, which used to be a stone’s throw away from my apartment in Malmö. The story behind the disappearing manufacture of the pencil gives inspiration to dig deeper into the history, the material and the scientific “facts”. I become an editor which cuts and splices the complex narrative. Building a timeline of development and history, making three stops: the prehistoric period, the industrial revolution and the period of high-technology. This project deals with cycles of use, the surprising transformations of everyday things, and the constant reinvention of the material. It traces the path from the “pure” material to the high-tech materials of the future and back.

carbon-14 tries to bring structure and understanding to a varied array of materials including: drawings, photographs, sculptures, and pure materials as Siberian larch wood, scotch tape, graphite, charcoal and graphene, the newest form of carbon.

credits:
poems by Rachel Sato-Banks
graphene provided by AppliedNanoLayers.bv