The role of the title in the work of Cornelia Parker is particularly important as it increases the number of associations in the mind of the viewer. The artist comments, 'Cold dark matter is the material within the universe that we cannot
see and we cannot quantify. We know it exists but we can't measure it. It's immeasurable, unfathomable'

The title of the work leads us to make connections between the work and the world of science and space. As a result the subject of the world becomes an unusual collision between the small scale and everyday (the garden shed filled with familiar objects) and the vast scale of cosmic events. 'Cold Dark Matter' can be seen as a domestic scale Big Bang.

The work is also about violence: the violence that exists around us in the world but also violence as part of the creative process.

Cornelia Parker is interested in the 'afterlife' of objects. She says, 'I like to take man-made objects and push them to the point where they almost lose their reference.so that they become something else, take on other alliances'.

Her use of a garden shed as a container for her objects (salvaged from a car-boot sale), which she considers a typical feature of British life, shows a fascination with social institutions.

Other works by the artist have focussed on schoolhouses, churches and the institution of marriage. Her desire seems to be to dismantle these structures and then remake them, revealing hidden aspects of institutions in the process.

Discussion points

• If this were an exhibit in a science museum (not an art object in a gallery) what would its title be?
• What point are we at in the story? What happened immediately before this moment? What will happen next?
• Why did the artist choose a garden shed? What objects did she choose to fill the shed and why?