Standing Reserve Fact 49/60

In Standing Reserve Fact 49/60, Mark Brown encodes a machine cut slab of granite with data sand-blasted onto its surface. Included are the longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of where the object was found in a masonry yard behind Factory 49 and a sequential reference to the Factory 49 exhibition history. The term BESTAND, also inscribed on the granite, refers to Martin Heidegger’s description of raw natural materials as ‘standing reserve’ awaiting consumption. Additionally, sound recorded at the masonry yard is resonated through the object using audio transducers.   Mark Brown’s Standing Reserve Fact 49/60 continues a series of works using found objects imprinted with textual and numerical ‘meta-data’ referencing their site of discovery. In a transitional state - undergoing an industrial transformation or as decayed, fragmented or lost - the objects exist in-between states. This series is inspired by the seminal 1961 meta-sculpture by conceptual artist Robert Morris Box with the Sound of its Own Making, the Duchampian Readymade and a continued and evolving exploration of site-specific installation practice.