FOR a few brief hours yesterday, it seemed as though aliens may have landed in Jersey.
Talk on social media and around workplace water coolers was dominated by news that a capsule had apparently descended from space and landed on the north coast near Les Platons.
The nine-foot-tall silver capsule, with USSR emblazoned on its rear end, was first spotted by a dog walker soon after sunrise, and images published on Facebook were shared and liked hundreds of times.
It may have seemed like a job for NASA but in the absence of agency officials, the job was left to the most qualified (and available) body, the Trinity honorary police, with Centenier John Howell among the first on the scene as scores of Islanders ventured out to see the object for themselves.
The flying object did not remain unidentified for long. By the end of the morning, it had been confirmed that it was a work by Jersey-born conceptual artist Rachel Ara, which had been installed temporarily as a means of promoting a forthcoming exhibition.
The ‘Dissent Module’ was built four years ago for a UK exhibition, but no sooner had it been installed at University College London in early 2020 than the exhibition closed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Fast forward three and a half years and the work, built with recycled aeroplane parts to a budget of £15,000, will finally be available for the public to see when it forms part of the forthcoming ArtHouse Jersey exhibition, No Place Like Home.
The capsule is due to be removed from the north coast tomorrow, after which it will be on show until 15 October at the Town Church, next to ArtHouse Jersey’s base at Capital House.
Ms Ara attended Jersey College for Girls before leaving the Island at the age of 20 and attending Goldsmiths College in London. She recently returned to the Island to care for her elderly parents after spending more than three decades away from Jersey.
‘A lot of people have come out already and it’s been a real talking point. It’s great when art sparks conversations,’ she said.
