1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,509
[Music]

2
00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:15,012
My name is Erika Blumenfeld and I am an artist and 
I'm obsessed with the stories 

3
00:00:15,046 --> 00:00:24,960
that connect us to the cosmos. I was in Scotland on route to a artist residency that was artists and scientists together  

4
00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:33,240
on a sailboat to sail the Scottish Isles and meet 
communities there. So in order to get there we had  

5
00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:42,800
to pass through this road cut and I just remember 
looking at this road cut very very distinctively  

6
00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:47,280
and it was so interesting and I could see 
all of the layers of strata and I've always  

7
00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:50,720
been interested in rocks and I've always been 
interested in geology but there was something  

8
00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:56,680
about that that really captured my imagination. 
So I came back from that trip thinking about  

9
00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:03,120
rocks and I was watching this documentary on 
geology and there was this amazing thing where  

10
00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:09,680
the episode pans to a scientist standing at 
a road cut in Scotland. It happened to be the  

11
00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:14,560
exact road cut that I had gone through and he 
was telling the story about how these rocks  

12
00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:19,920
aren't just like the rocks in the Catskills in 
New York, but they are the same rock and that at  

13
00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:27,200
one point those two continents were joined and 
this is the story of that connection and then  

14
00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:33,720
he said something that sparked this whole thing. 
He's like but the story is in the rock and that  

15
00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:40,320
to me captured my imagination. That rocks could 
be scrolls of knowledge, that they could be storybooks

16
00:01:40,320 --> 00:01:48,403
that if you know how to read the language 
in the rock, you can unravel the stories and the mysteries within them.

17
00:01:48,403 --> 00:02:00,960
My hope with Astromaterials 3D is that we can inspire the next generation and that young minds will work with the Astromaterials 3D website and explore the rocks  

18
00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:07,960
and will open their minds. We wanted to create a 
tool for researchers anywhere around the planet  

19
00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:14,320
to be able to interact with these samples in a 
way to initiate investigation. You can download  

20
00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:20,440
the XCT data. You can download the models and use 
them in your own research. And knowing that the  

21
00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:24,640
public doesn't have a lot of opportunity 
to interact with these samples. How could  

22
00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:31,800
we bring more of these samples to the public 
eye and do so in a way that can allow people  

23
00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:42,280
to an entry into it so that kids and and adults 
alike can read and explore? We're developing new  

24
00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:50,240
capabilities for small sample returns so we're 
trying to set up our Astromaterials 3D project to be able  

25
00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:57,680
to accommodate and support these missions. As an 
artist working at the intersection of art and  

26
00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:03,880
science and nature and culture, I've always been 
curious ever since I was a small person and I  

27
00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:10,320
think really it's my curiosities that lead me into 
understanding the natural phenomena of our world  

28
00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:17,600
and the stories that we've been telling through 
our cultures across time. And so, for me personally, 

29
00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:23,880
it's meaningful to be able to shine light on 
these stories and to share them with the public. I  

30
00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:29,880
feel so grateful that I get to be in this place 
thinking creatively with an incredible group of  

31
00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:36,800
colleagues and carrying this incredible 
lineage of these rocks that came from the  

32
00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:44,560
Moon lunar surface and are now here on our planet 
telling their stories. It's just an incredible  

33
00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:53,018
privilege and I never lose sight of how cool it 
is that I'm sitting here looking at Moon rocks.

34
00:03:53,018 --> 00:04:14,001
[Music]

35
00:04:14,001 --> 00:04:15,002