TMA-3 Beams Down in Utah

[toucana]

A routine wildlife assistance mission took an extraterrestrial turn for Utah's Department of Public Safety after officers stumbled upon a mysterious monolith in the middle of rural Utah.

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/utah-monolith-art-trnd/index.html

Officers from the Utah Department of Public Safety's Aero Bureau were flying by helicopter last Wednesday, helping the Division of Wildlife Resources count bighorn sheep in southeastern Utah, when they spotted something that seemed right out of "2001: A Space Odyssey."

There in the middle of the red rock was a shiny, silver metal monolith sticking out of the ground. They guessed it was "between 10 and 12 feet high." It didn't look like it was randomly dropped to the ground, an officer told KSL, but rather it looked like it had been planted.

Helicopter pilot Brett Hutchings said he thinks it was most likely placed there by an artist rather than an alien. "I'm assuming it's some new wave artist or something or, you know, somebody that was a big ("2001: A Space Odyssey") fan," he said, referencing a scene in the 1968 film where a black monolith appears.

Still, it is illegal to install structures or art without authorization on public lands "no matter what planet you're from," said Utah DPS in a statement released Monday.

https://dpsnews.utah.gov/dps-aero-bureau-encounters-monolith-in-red-rock-country/

The location of the monolith is not being disclosed, partly for public safety reasons, and it is not yet clear who -- or what -- put the monolith there, DPS said.

[charon]

It was me, but they don't know that.

[TheVat]

In the words of Fox Mulder, "I want to believe."

[charon]

No law against it. In fact, these days you can stick a banana in your ear and you'll be protected by almost everybody :-)

Question is what it's made of. If it's a bit of shop front, then... If it's unknown then we'll never hear about it again.

[toucana]

I’m rather intrigued as to how the installer managed to transport and erect this sculpture so far out in the middle of the desert.

Stainless steel has a density of around 7.85 megagrams/cubic metre

If this TMA-1 clone is made of solid steel in the canonical proportions of 1.4.9 (the squares of the first three integers), and stands about 12 feet tall, then that is a serious tonnage of steel to be lugging around the boondocks.

[Serpent]

How do you know it's solid stainless steel?

[charon]

I think it's the wrong way up.

[toucana]

Serpent wrote:

How do you know it's solid stainless steel?

I don't - that's why I used the conditional conjunction "If' at the head of a conditional clause.

The original TMA-1 (Tycho Magnetic Anomaly) in 2001:A Space Odyssey wasn't hollow however, and there's no reason to suspect that this piece of fan fiction is either.

[Serpent]

That would take some wealthy fan! A hollow nickel-plated copy is what I would expect.
By "How do you know?" I didn't intend to challenge your supposition. I phrased it badly.
What I meant to ask was:
Has it been examined by any competent agency? Do you know more than we see?

[TheVat]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/us/U ... untry.html
(some excerpts, for those with paywall issues)

On Facebook, the Utah Highway Patrol shared photos of sheep and the object, asking the public for its thoughts. “During the count they came across this (sheet of metal?), buried in the middle of nowhere … what do you think it is?” the caption said. It added emojis of an alien and a person shrugging.

Respondents had suggestions: a “resonance deflector,” “an eyesore,” “some good metal.” Some theorized, vaguely, that it was a satellite beacon. Others joked that it was a Wi-Fi router. Some said it was a leftover movie prop — Red Rock Country has served as the backdrop for “Indiana Jones,” “Star Trek” and “Mission Impossible” movies. (A spokeswoman for the Utah Film Commission said, “To our knowledge, the monolith that was found in Utah this week is not from a film production.”)

The Art Newspaper observed that the object resembled the “free-standing plank sculptures” of the Minimalist artist John McCracken, who lived in New Mexico before his death in 2011 and whose work is represented by the David Zwirner Gallery.

“The gallery is divided on this,” Mr. Zwirner said in a statement. “I believe this is definitely by John.

Dan Toone, a metal sculptor based in Salt Lake City, said he was not responsible for the monolith. “I have no idea where it came from, who did it or why it’s there,” he said in an email.

Lt. Nick Street, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said the authorities were confident that “it’s somebody’s art installation, or an attempt at that.”

He said the monolith appeared to be made of stainless steel, put together “with human-made rivets” and embedded into the rock, though how deep was a mystery.


Riveted sheet metal, not solid.

[TheVat]

[Serpent]

Less impressive by the minute. Both as a phenomenon and as art.

[charon]

How long had it been there?

[Faradave]

I've got a bone to pick with the artist.

[toucana]

Well, whatever it was, it seems to have beamed back up again

https://news.sky.com/story/mysterious-metal-monolith-in-utah-disappears-days-after-it-was-discovered-12145743

On Facebook, the bureau said: "We have received credible reports that the illegally installed structure, referred to as the 'monolith' has been removed from Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands by an unknown party.

"The BLM did not remove the structure, which is considered private property.

[TheVat]

Ryan Bacher, an avid Utah outdoorsman and helicopter pilot, flew with friends to see the monolith on Friday. He said there were dozens of others there, too, “looking at this fun piece of art.”

“Twenty-four hours later, my close friend, who is also a helicopter pilot, flew his family down to see as well and found it taken down,” Bacher said, adding he would like to know who did it.

Left in the monolith’s place was a stack of red rocks and a steel prism-shaped object....

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/11/28 ... t-utah-blm

Will try to find a pic of the prism object. This gentleman was seen nearby, shortly before the monolith vanished....

[TheVat]

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/29/93988222 ... t-appeared

Includes a subreddit link to some more photos of the now-vanished object, and more details on the story.

The object was prism shaped, three long sheets of aluminum riveted together. The case for its being the work of sculptor John McCracken seems to me to be gaining credibility.

The sheet left behind (described in the previous Deseret article incorrectly as steel and prism-shaped) looks to be a triangular end cap, likely also aluminum.

Given the prestige and average monetary value of McCracken's artworks, it seems possible the removal of the object was a heist. I have little doubt there are private collectors out there who would pay a pretty penny for such a unique piece. (but why leave an end cap?)

[charon]

McCracken's son, Patrick, told the newspaper that his father once said "he would like to leave his artwork in remote places to be discovered later."

Ah, well, that's probably it, then.

Pity about the end cap. Someone's kicking themselves, I bet.

[toucana]

The monolith has apparently reappeared - this time in Romania.

https://news.sky.com/story/mysterious-monolith-found-in-romania-days-after-a-similar-one-vanished-in-utah-12147652

The 4m (13ft) monolith has been spotted on Batca Doamnei Hill in the city of Piatra Neamt, according to reports from local media.

The appearance of the hollow structure, which has a triangular shape and is covered in a looping scrawl, has sparked speculation about its origin.

[charon]

Copycat by the looks of it. Looping scrawl?

[TheVat]

It doesn't seem entirely coincidental.

Meanwhile, another monument which was (cough) erected a few years ago has also vanished....

https://apnews.com/article/germany-myst ... 0b8d76246f

[charon]

It's interesting because, if they're dumped out in the open, these things don't appear to belong to anybody. So can they actually be stolen?

[toucana]

German police have launched an investigation into the disappearance of a peculiar phallic-shaped sculpture from a mountainside in Bavaria, local media say.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55142062

The two-metre tall (6.5ft) wooden statue was apparently chopped down over the weekend, the Allgaeuer Zeitung newspaper reported
.
The statue stood for years on the Grünten mountain, south-west of Munich.
Now, all that remains of the monument is a small stump and some wood chips.

It is not known who originally carved and erected the sculpture, which has become a landmark on the 1,738m-high (5,702ft) Grünten mountain, attracting many hikers to the area.

"All your erections are belong to us !"

[TheVat]

I sense the giggle factor of this thread increasing logarithmically.

Those familiar with the "Where's Waldo" (AKA "Where's Wally" in UK) series/fad in the early 90s, might see potential for some variations on the original theme. Some perhaps aimed at a more adult audience.

[charon]

I used to share a house with Martin who drew Where's Wally. He was okay. He was quite surprised at his success.

[charon]

Ah, ha!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ke-up.html

[toucana]

It's been a busy week.

The monolith that appeared in Romania disappeared four days later according to Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-romania-monolith/mystery-monolith-vanishes-in-romania-alien-action-or-local-prank-idUSKBN28B4UB

But another monolith has now been spotted on top of a mountain in Atascadero California USA.

https://news.sky.com/story/third-monolith-found-on-california-mountain-following-utah-and-romania-discoveries-12149697

It was discovered on Wednesday by a local hiker who says the structure wasn't there the day before.

[toucana]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/02/new-monolith-california-mountaintop-atascadero

[TheVat]

(another report on Atascadero)

Metal monolith mania has swept the world in the past two weeks.

Now, a third metal slab has appeared atop Pine Mountain in Atascadero, California.

Hikers stumbled across the 10-foot-tall, stainless-steel monolith on Wednesday morning. It's almost an exact match to two other metal monoliths that were discovered in Utah and Romania in the past two weeks.

According to the local outlet Atascadero News, the California monolith was three-sided, just like the one in Utah. But unlike the one in the Utah desert, this 200-pound structure wasn't firmly attached to the ground and could be knocked over with a firm push.

https://www.insider.com/third-monolith- ... ia-2020-12

Sounds like the original Utah prism (as reported in Charon's "aha" post) was dismantled by nature lovers who didn't care for hordes descending on Utah's backcountry. Hmm. Of course, THEY went out there, too. A bit self-righteous, seems to me.

[charon]

A bit self-righteous, seems to me.

Yes, I thought that. Who do they think they are? But I suppose when you're saving planet Earth from the Bad People anything goes.