Art as 36th and Final Global Contributor to ITER - Humanity's Pursuit of Generating a Star on Earth

2 25 2020. Forbes Article by Eva Amsen. The Art Hidden In The World’s Largest Nuclear Fusion Reactor
Photo: © Corday Studio / Christopher Powers

Over the last three decades, thirty-five countries have joined together to build a momentary miniature sun on Earth--Science’s greatest terrestrial achievement of the celestial. The project is called ITER, a 444 acre site, dedicated to studying the power of stars through generating one for humankind in Southern France.

We are the witnessing generation of humanity realizing a star on Earth––a project of public good and shared knowledge; of rigor and devotion; and unwavering focus over last several decades in the attempt of "to prove humanity has the intelligence to prevent its own extinction"[1].

My five-year collaboration with ITER Directors resulted in "Art" as the thirty-sixth and final global contributor with the installation of a single object within within the infrastructure of the star. Sans Titre, is a two-pound unmarked materiality within the structure supporting the mega-heavy components of the star [the ITER tokamak], its form that of a re-created M30 bolt, is one within an anonymous repetition of 10,000 others sharing in the structural responsibility supporting the Tokamak––one work within the million forms completing the star in 2023.

The installation of Sans Titre is the culmination of a five-year journey with the extraordinary people and promethean material aim of ITER. As sculptor ever advancing the cosmological hammer and chisel of temperature and pressure in my work––my interests in ITER are many however first for its unprecedented material conversation at 150 million degrees C [10x hotter than our sun]––the unprecedented use of the the medium within matter in its solid and plasma state.

Sans Titre's 30 x 110 x 30mm measure and F3125 A490 Type 3 metal alloy is forged terrestrially from the metals of stars and placed within the Promethean project of Science re-creating one.  The material is finished in black iron oxide, the base pigment I used towards the color for National September 11 Memorial, my Protoist paintings as well as found in cave paintings of France and the base of coatings for the ESA and NASA solar orbiters.

The material object of Sans Titre is not seen but rather seeing; the material object will not be touched but is touching our anthropomorphic star.

This project has tremendous thanks to Bernard Bigot[ITER Director- General]; Mark Uhran [Retired US ITER Communications Director]; Laban Coblentz [ITER French Headquarter Communications Director]; Laurent Schmieder [ITER Buildings and Infrastructure Director]; Shira Tabachnikoff [ITER French Headquarter Communications Manager]; Cecile Foucher De Brandois [ITER Communications]; Robert Arnoux [ITER Communications]; Mark Henderson [ITER Scientist].

As well as Bob Tarantino [New Jersey Precision Technologies]; Portland Bolt Company; Emile Maurin; Bernier Cast Metals; and Christopher Powers.

Let There Be Light. A 2017 Fusion Film Documentary on ITER

and smaller projects around the world

I will keep close with further details later this spring and summer as this special project continues.