Inner Freedom — UCLA 2019

Art object · Muonionalusta meteorite · Anton Artemev · Los Angeles, November 3, 2019

EventExploring Your Universe
PlaceUCLA, Los Angeles
DateNovember 3, 2019
MaterialMuonionalusta iron meteorite, leather

“Exploring Your Universe” is one of the largest annual events at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). On the first Sunday of November it brings thousands of children, parents and friends from the Los Angeles community to the campus.

On November 3, 2019, the art object “Inner Freedom” took part in this event as a full scientific exhibit, alongside the work of the university’s researchers and students. The day was filled with interesting conversations with people of different ages and nationalities, and with creative inspiration.

Two girls touching the Inner Freedom meteorite at UCLA Exploring Your Universe 2019
A boy touching the 32 kg Muonionalusta meteorite at UCLA

“Inner Freedom” is a spatial metaphor: the opposition of the outer and the inner. It is based on a 32 kg specimen of the Muonionalusta iron meteorite, combined with leather. It is the same work that was first shown at Art Basel in Miami a year earlier. This time there was enough time to prepare: the object got a wooden stand, which I made myself, and black straps, while the meteorite stayed the same.

Girl in a planet T-shirt looking at the Inner Freedom art object
Boy in a S.T.A.R. Labs T-shirt studying the meteorite at UCLA
Children and parents gathered around the Inner Freedom meteorite
Close-up of the Muonionalusta iron meteorite with riveted leather strap on a wooden stand
Anton Artemev and Nicholas Gessler with Inner Freedom at UCLA

The participation of “Inner Freedom” was made possible thanks to the personal involvement of Nicholas Gessler, Research Associate at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Anton Artemev, IMCA-9900. UCLA, Los Angeles, 2019.