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The Human Pearl

status:

2022

Kidney stone, surrounded by diamonds

1 x 1 x 1 cm

Henk Rogers

“The Stone ” will be the first truly man-made object on the Moon. The work features a kidney stone surrounded by diamonds.

“The Stone ” will be the first truly man-made object on the Moon. The work features a kidney stone surrounded by diamonds. It juxtaposes what we deem valuable, and what we think is creepy. In essence, diamonds which are rocks we find in the ground are contrasted with kidney stones, which are rocks we create inside our body and “delivered” with great pain. 


The Stone is a piece of gold jewelry with a “stone” as its centerpiece, surrounded by small diamonds, like an engagement ring. It consists of a flat 10mm square base with a “post” in the middle holding up a “setting”. This “setting” prongs on a ring / pendant which aids in holding the diamond in place. The main feature is a 6 mm stone that looks like a tiny asteroid. This is a man-made stone. In fact, I created this stone inside of my own body. It’s a kidney stone.


Kidney stones are controversial objects. Oftentimes, when I show someone one of my kidney stones, I always get a weird reaction. People treat it like it’s radioactive because of how it was “delivered”. Babies are delivered in a similar way and people adore them. Kidney stones are generally destroyed in a lab to find out what they’re made of. Disregarding the misconceptions, I kept mine. I’m a man. Having a kidney stone is the closest I will ever come to having a baby. “The Stone” is my baby.

Full Record Details

Title

Date

Medium

Dimensions

Genre

Style

Artist

Collection

The Human Pearl

2022

Kidney stone, surrounded by diamonds

1 x 1 x 1 cm

Sculpture

Henk Rogers

Moon Gallery

Launch

Date

Mission

Operator

Location

State

COSPAR id

19 Feb 2022

Antares 230+ / NG-17 Cygnus resupply mission

Northrop Grumman

Wallops Island, VA, USA

USA

2022-015A

Space

Location

Platform

Operator

COSPAR id

LEO

International Space Station

NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, JAXA, CSA

1998-067A

Return

Date

Vehicle

Operator

Landing

COSPAR id

Status

Location

11 January 2023

Dragon CRS-26

SpaceX

Gulf of Mexico

2022-159A

Returned

Moon Gallery Foundation

Artist

Henk Rogers

Henk Rogers

The Netherlands

Collection

Moon Gallery

Moon Gallery Foundation

Moon Gallery

Additional media

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