How the Infinity Project Started

One day in 1976, I discovered five handmade glass marbles in an old garden bed outside my kitchen door. Probably left there by children a generation or two earlier, they were still just as bright and vibrant as they’d been on the summer afternoon they were lost.

As I looked down at these small spheres, I remembered a story about peculiar little glass goblets that had been found in ancient sites throughout the Middle East, and for years scientists were baffled about their purpose: were they medicinal, cosmetic, religious… or perhaps tiny oil lamps? No one knew until the late 1970s, when Corning Museum scientist Robert Brill came upon a glassblower in Herat, Afghanistan, working over an ancient furnace, making the same little objects. What were they? The tiny chalices were created to hold water and seed for caged birds. Turns out the archaeologists’ theories hadn’t even been close.

Then the following thoughts came to me almost simultaneously: “So many priceless glass objects in museums were buried for eons until a random archaeologist discovered them! No museum has shown my work, and, eeeek… what if none ever do!? I make glass planets that will probably last for centuries... Why not bury my planets myself, and then maybe someday in the future another random archaeologist might find one. A mystery to stump the experts! Possibly my glass might find its way into a museum after all!”

So I started leaving my planets in secret spots wherever I went, first near my house and then later wherever I traveled. I even dropped a few out of the window of my plane (in totally remote locations, of course!). Soon, I was giving away tons of planets to friends who promised to hide them in their own travels. And this soon became the “Infinity Project”.

I love the thought of the people who eventually find these little worlds being intrigued about their meaning, purpose and origin. These people may or may not be archaeologists. They may know nothing about art or science, and they might not be able to purchase one of my pieces. But I like the idea of my art reaching a totally new audience of people who are not just socially or culturally different but also potentially living decades or hundreds of years from now.

Check out some of the people and places in the Infinity Community below. Will your planet instantly be seen by a lucky passer-by or eventually discovered by an intrepid adventurer? Or, might it lie undiscovered for centuries, to intrigue a future archaeologist? Write and tell us your ideas!

*EnviroNote: Glass is made of silica, one of the Earth's primary constituents. It is chemically stable, will remain unchanged for thousands of years, and cannot harm the environment.