One of Them, 2012
Installation
A shelf with a 10 cm diameter ball made of rare earth mineral - Yttrium - and an inkjet print on A3 paper mounted on aluminium
Unique

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The story of ‘One of them’, 2012, begins in China, 132 AD, as Zhang Heng presents his mysterious invention, the first known seismometre, to the Han court. Recognised by sources as remarkably precise, Zhang's machine (the exact mechanics of which are no longer known) consisted of dish on which eight dragon-shaped tubes corresponding to the eight points of a compass had been fixed. Each dragon held a metal ball in its mouth. An earthquake occurring at a distance would cause one of these balls to fall into the mouth of an object in the shape of a toad, thus showing the direction of the coming disaster. Pratchaya Phintong has recreated one of these balls here but rather than bronze, he has made it with a rare earth element (one in a group of minerals used in manufacturing high-tech objects: flat screens, batteries...).

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​The People's Republic of China owns more than 90% of the mondial market in rare earth elements and uses this economic power to political ends. Linking an ancient scientific object to a modern technology, the artist gives current economic reality to the work. The sculpture is accompanied by a photograph taken by the global imaging satellite ASTER, run by Japan and the USA. It is an image of the largest rare earth mine in Chinese Mongolia. Again, Pratchaya Phinthong plays on correspondences, causing the geopolitical sphere to slide towards the more sensual one of an installation.