Press releases 2017

The Argentine artist duo presents an art intervention in hall 6 of the Natural History Museum in Vienna, on display from November 21^st, 2018, until March 11^th, 2019.
 
The Argentine artist duo Faivovich & Goldberg will be presenting at Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (Natural History Museum of Vienna), a new iteration of their project "In Search of Mesón de Fierro", located within the museum’s historic mineral and meteorite exhibit halls. The NHM not only houses one of the largest meteorite collection in the world, but it also has the longest history dating back to 1751 evidencing more than 250 years of scientific research, recording, and observation.
 
For the last twelve years, Faivovich & Goldberg have been developing an extensive research endeavor that revolves around the cultural impact of the Campo del Cielo iron meteorite, which fell in the distant plains of the Chaco region in Northern Argentina about 4000 years ago. One of these iron masses, known as Mesón de Fierro, the first meteorite ever reported from the American continent, was noted in 1576 by Spanish conquistadores who were escorted to the impact site by indigenous guides.
 
The mass, estimated to weigh between 15 to 20 tons, was visited for the following 200 years, and then mysteriously vanished although many missions have attempted its retrieval.
 
Since their first expedition to Campo del Cielo in 2006, Faivovich & Goldberg have embarked in the search for this missing mass. As they realized that their venture wouldn't necessarily succeed in ground zero, they launched a wide-ranging research in institutions, archives, and collections around the world, looking for traces linked to the history of the “lost” meteorite. In 2017, after years of countless adventures and travels, they found, in collaboration with curators at the NHM Vienna's meteorite collection, a 19-gram fragment, with inventory number A18, that they were able to link back to Mesón de Fierro.
 
In the context of this finding, the exhibition, curated by Daniela Zyman, serves as a platform where the enigmatic history of the Mesón de Fierro can unfold.
 
The exhibition is supported by the “Embassy of Argentina in Austria” and “Vienna Art Week 2018”
(19 – 25 Nov).