©Cornelia Parker via BBC News
Pre-reading questions
- Are you artistic?
- What is the most famous artwork in your country?
Vocabulary
- nearby /NEER-BAHY/
- silver /SIL-ver/
- equipment /ih-KWIP-muhnt/
- frozen /FROH-zuhn/
- inhale /in-HEYL/
[adjective] – not far away
I saw a café nearby.
[noun] – a white metal that is highly valued and used especially in utensils, jewelry, coins, and decorative objects
We bought this silver vase in England.
[noun] – the set of necessary tools, clothing, etc. for a particular purpose
Do we have all the camping equipment ready?
[adjective] – not moving at all
She was too frozen to move from fear.
[verb] – to breathe air, smoke, or gas into your lungs
We inhaled fresh air in the forest.
Article reading
Thirty Pieces of Silver
©Cornelia Parker via BBC News
Parker created this piece by hanging over a thousand pieces of silver-plated metal in 30 different pools or “discs”. “The title […] alludes to money, to betrayal, to death and resurrection; more simply, it is a literal description of the piece.”
Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View
©Cornelia Parker via BBC News
Twisted pieces of bicycles, gardening equipment, painted pots, and toys are lit by a bright lightbulb in the middle of the structure. Viewers are tricked into seeing a frozen explosion.
Perpetual Canon
©Cornelia Parker via BBC News
Parker extended “Thirty Pieces of Silver” into “Perpetual Canon” by destroying 60 brass-band instruments. “The idea of a Perpetual Canon [is] that [it] just keeps going on forever.” It’s like these wind instruments have inhaled and never exhaled. Like they’ve just taken a breath and are in an arrested space.”
Parker’s most recent ongoing work is “Island” (2022). The greenhouse that was left behind and its white-washed windows raise issues of climate change.
True or False:
- Cornelia Parker became interested in art after seeing coins transform violently.
- “Thirty Pieces of Silver” is an artwork that has over a thousand pieces of silver-plated metal hanging from 30 different discs.
- There is no lightbulb that lights the structure of “Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View”.
- Parker destroyed 50 brass-band instruments to make “Perpetual Canon”.
- Parker’s ongoing work is “Island” (2022).
Fill in the blanks
| nearby | silver | equipment | frozen | inhale |
- Don’t _______ smoke from cigarettes.
- There’s a new bookstore _______. Let’s go there next week.
- _______ can be used to make some coins.
- We have stocks of kitchen _______.
- If you see _______ fish in the tank, that means they’re asleep.