Junctures - The Journal for Thematic Dialogue

McKinlay, Pam

Colophon: Junctures, Issue 11:control#2

McPherson, Heather

The Journal for Thematic Dialogue
unctures
14: peace
July 2011
Junctures is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives Works 3.0 New Zealand licence 
(cc-by-nc-nd), unless otherwise indicated. Copyright in all images remains with the artists, unless otherwise indicated.
 
HEAtHER MCPHERsON 
Chasing the god particle... 
38 Junctures 14, July 2011
HEATHER McPHERSON
Chasing the god particle...
(New Zealand Herald headline, September 2010)
And what will you do
when you find it
Sir Particle Scientist
Astrophysicist Large Hadron
Collider manipulist
since splitting the atom
has given us
what anyone can do
with a president’s jab
or a general’s thumb or an ill-timed
tsunami quake
I mean blast us all apart
This divine blob
Sir will it give us
longer mortality
a deity more just
even a home maybe
on stilts with wings or gills
in sinuous global
scans
This particle
you call god Sir
will it Stop Press
countermand
confuse defuse or fuse
split atoms
and family body-bits
we wipe off our bloody hands
October, 2011


English

Chasing the god particle...

Author Biographies

Hofko, Markus

42
Figure 1: Parasite, sculpture from the 
recent series entitled Islands.
Figure 2: Overview, sculpture from the 
recent series entitled Islands.
Figure 3: Exile, sculpture from the recent 
series entitled Islands.
Figure 4:  Treasure, sculpture from the 
recent series entitled Islands.
Hofko – Islands – Junctures, 12, Jun 2009
43Hofko – Islands – Junctures, 12, Jun 2009
Artist’s PAges MArKUs HOFKO
islands
Islands is a series of sculptures showing miniature snapshots of life. Isolated pieces of land, 
that look like they were wrenched from the earth by some force of nature, are floating through 
nowhere. All that is left is a random group of living beings who do their best to survive.
Every creature on our planet is permanently confronted with life itself and all its challenges. As 
people we need to handle various tasks each day, from work to shopping, from entertainment 
to basic needs. All these individual situations are mostly limited to a very small physical and 
social environment. We might meet as a group but only be able to talk to one person; we 
might work for a global company but sit in a little office. We might watch a soccer game in 
a huge stadium but not be recognised by anyone. Our own subjective world is little. We will 
never be able to absorb everything at the same time as we are lost in limitation. To make 
this circumstance visible I created islands. It can be seen as a 3-dimensional cartoon, telling 
stories that are sometimes absurd, sometimes funny and sometimes shocking and sad. The 
isolation and limitation of the playground is shifting everything into something essential. 
Each island almost feels like a riddle, as if there is something that must be solved – the 
challenge of life.
The unusual occurrences on the islands offer a lot of freedom for interpretations or 
speculations. The miniature scenes force us to come close, to see, to explore and to experience. 
They turn us into huge beings, put us in a superior role outside of the islands, and make us 
want to help or to flee.
Markus Hofko was born in Augsburg, Germany. Markus is also known as The 
Rainbowmonkey and has been an artist his whole life long. After his early experiences 
in painting, drawing and photography he finally found his way to a field in which he 
could use all these skills when he studied Communication Design at the University 
of Augsburg, Germany. He has been working in Auckland, New Zealand since 2007. 
His work can be accessed through www.rainbowmonkey.de where an overview is 
available. 


"Islands"

Strongman, Luke

Captain Cook’s Voyages and Coleridge’s "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

Markula, Pirkko

Governing Obese Bodies in a Control Society

Lu, Nhu Tien

In the Moment of Breaking

McGaw, Janet

Vance, Alasdair

Urban Discourses and Neural Networks: The Relevance of Deleuzian Characteristics of Group for Neurons/Brains and Bodies/Cities

Rich, Emma

Evans, John

Rereading Voice: Young Women, Anorexia and Performative Education

Webster, Elaine

115
ElainE WEbstEr 
so to speak
Out in the world
 the dogs are barking at each other.
Will I also bark?
Or shall I whisper, 
as a swan does in her heart when
she finds in the muddy lake-bed
 that lost thing
and, carrying it in her beak, 
breaks clear of the water,
 stretching all her being into flight.
Elaine Webster teaches social theory in Sociology within the Department of 
Anthropology at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Dr Webster’s research 
interests include dress and appearances, the self, power, symbolic meanings, and 
myth. A textile artist and writer of prose and poetry, she explores some of her research 
themes through creative work. 
PoEm
Webster – So to Speak – Junctures, 9, Dec 2007


"So to Speak"

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