Artist Kaegan Walsh (MArch 2016) has completed a permanent installation entitled Provenance located in a rural region of Ontario.

The piece positions concrete as unintentional land art. The key concept for the project is how an individual concrete construction can be traced back to a very specific location within the natural environment by identifying the unique stone types found in every sample of concrete that uses a natural aggregate. In this way, all concrete buildings and infrastructure, ubiquitous in our cities, can be linked to a unique origin within the natural environment.

Provenance consists of three 1m concrete cubes installed in the landscape; abstract boulders that mimic the natural boulders deposited in this region during the last ice age. In this era, an ice sheet moved through the landscape, depositing these boulders along the way and grinding massive amounts of stone into what is now used for aggregate in our concrete. Our concrete constructions are once again displacing the rock material created by this phenomenon. This project's abstract boulders juxtapose these natural and human geologic actions.

Paradoxically, the transformation of our planet through our built environment appears both drastic and minute when considered in direct comparison to a natural counterpart. In illustrating this link between modern construction techniques and ancient history, this project argues for a new consideration to architectural preservation that incorporates this unique feature of concrete and the geologic history in which it plays a part.

Provenance will be documented in an upcoming edition of the journal Prospect.

View the gallery below for more images of the project, courtesy of Kaegan Walsh.

For more information on Walsh's work, visit his website: www.kaeganwalsh.com