UN METEORITO PARA 
LA SOCIEDAD CIENTÍFICA 
ARGENTINA DEL AÑO 2105



Wooden prism
IAB iron meteorite, 41 kg

ARTEBA, BUENOS AIRES 2018
MUSEO ROSA GALISTEO, SANTA FE 2019
MUSEO TAMAYO, CDMX 2020
GALERÍA BARRO, BUENOS AIRES 2022-23
MUSEO MODERNO, BUENOS AIRES 2023-24




When Faivovich & Goldberg became the legal custodians of a 41 kg meteorite thanks to the cession of an anonymous donor, they envisioned its placement -logical but also poetic- in the Hall of Busts of the Argentine Scientific Society. However, a conflict of unclear nature prevented both parties (the artists and Scientific Society) from reaching an agreement, so the donation did not materialize and the emancipatory transfer of the rock from the private to the public sphere did not take place.

Faced with the dilemma posed by this forced withdrawal, the duo decided to preserve the specimen in a custom-designed time capsule and leave the arbitration over its final destiny to future generations. In May 2018, they presented Un meteorito para la Sociedad Científica Argentina del año 2105 [A Meteorite for the Argentine Scientific Society of the year 2105], a ceremony overseen by a public officer constituted by law during which the capsule that must keep the meteorite encased until July 9, 2105 was sealed. This is the date on which the Argentine Scientific Society may once again choose to incorporate the rock into its collection. Respecting the traditional features of the ceremonial universe, the event also included the performance of a musical piece composed for the occasion, a sort of ode that tinges with good omens the possibility of a future understanding in the XXII century. 
 
In the following years, the artists directed their efforts to channel the uncertain temporal course of this piece and placed some signs to guide it on its journey to its destination.
In the exhibition ¡Saxa Loquntuur! they not only showed the meteorite (though it is now urged to remain hidden, held in its capsule by a structure resembling a tesseract) but also called upon a group of friends, collaborators, and colleagues to write a series of letters. Addressed to the Argentine Scientific Society of the year 2105, these letters were written to reflect a specific moment of human ideas and feelings, but also to accompany the future reopening of the option that will allow the rock to finally find its public home. These testimonies and a few other materials were also safeguarded in another type of hermetic artifact, the recordadores or "reminders": new capsules that cannot be opened until the various dates indicated on their fronts and that function as a breadcrumb trail, fragmentarily replenishing a historical and emotional context for the meteorite and its future existence.

By creating a group of probes launched directly towards the XXII century, the artists evaluate the effectiveness of the artwork as a tool to reveal the temporal framework that supports the legal, economic, and social structures around a particular object. Ultimately, however, this work raises a question about the survival of human will and, through its dual nature, which is both concrete and symbolic, it expresses immense faith that, in the future, new channels will open in order to resolve those things that cannot be agreed upon in the present.