Theories abound on mysterious metal monolith discovered in Utah | Utah

A giant mysterious metal slab has caught the attention of millions of people, as people speculate on how such a structure came into being in a remote part of southern Utah.

The object was first spotted last week by a helicopter pilot and wildlife officers flying over the rugged area to conduct an annual bighorn count for the state. He immediately drew comparisons to the monolith featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as inviting suggestions that it could be the work of aliens.

Helicopter pilot Bret Hutchings got to see the large metal slab up close and guessed that it was probably the work of an artist.

“I guess he’s a new wave artist or something or, you know, someone who was a huge fan from 2001: A Space Odyssey fan,” Hutchings told the local news station. , KSLTV, which made a first report on the slab.

The work has been compared to those of many minimalist sculptors, including artist John McCracken, who died in 2011. His gallery owner, David Zwirner, told The Guardian that the mysterious object was not among his works.

“While this is not a work by the late American artist John McCracken, we suspect it is a work by another artist paying homage to McCracken,” a spokesperson for David Zwirner said.

One thing that is known is that without permission, it is illegal to install structures or artwork on public lands managed by the federal government, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS). That’s right, “whatever planet you’re from,” the agency said in a statement.

The agency said it did not plan to reveal the exact location of the object. “It is in a very remote area and if individuals attempt to visit the area, there is a significant possibility that they will find themselves stranded and require assistance,” said the DPS.

That didn’t stop Reddit users from identifying its likely whereabouts, as well as discussing theories as to how the object could have gotten there and why.

Zooming in on photos of the structure, Reddit users noted that there were lines at its base that suggested a rock saw had been used to put it into the ground and that it appeared to be held together with screws, dispelling the theory that it could be a large piece of metal.

The structure has also sparked controversy in the geography community, which has disputed that the Utah government uses the word “monolith” to describe the object.

A monolith is technically a geographic feature made of stone, while this slab appears to be made of metal. Merriam Webster’s dictionary, however, allows for a looser interpretation of the monolith as “a massive structure” and this is the word used to describe the structure director Stanley Kubrick made famous in 2001: A Space Odyssey.