A cutting out a chunk

A ‘crop’ is a framing of a certain portion of a visual scene, with the exclusion of the surrounding vista. It is straightforward to translate this process into the threedimensional realm. I cut a slice of cake. I dig a chunk of earth from the ground. I scoop a cup of water from a river. I cut a chunk of ice from a glacier.

An index produced by such a threedimensional crop is not merely a displacement ‘of a scene’ but also a displacement of an object - it is of the material in addition to being of the visual.

A chunk of time past

Cores bored from soil, ice or ocean foors are chunks dug directly from a place, material ‘crops’ of the scene. They refer to their location indexically. They also refer to the passage of time. The layers of diferent soil or ice indicate transitions in climate and conditions. These layers thus mark diferent periods in the history of the earth through centuries and even millenia. In this way, they are not only indexing on a visual and material register, but also a temporal one.