THENEWYORKER,NOVEMBER4, 2019 15
pline blot out the other. Her first major
project, “Yeast Expression,” was a col-
laboration with Noam Chomsky; phil-
osophical texts were mapped onto a syn-
thetic gene from engineered yeast cells,
then used to brew a six-pack of beer.
Strebe also created a living replica of van
Gogh’s ear, using DNA extracted from
his great-great-grandnephew. (An at-
tempt to extract the painter’s DNA from
an old postage stamp failed when Strebe
discovered that the stamp had been licked
not by van Gogh but by his postman.)
Strebe’s latest work is “The Redemp-
tion of Vanity,” in which the most bril-
liant material on earth (a diamond) is
covered with the most light-absorbing
material (carbon nanotubes). Both are
made of the same element, but with
different atomic arrangements; she views
it as a modern take on Heraclitus’ “unity
of opposites.” Strebe, an artist-in-resi-
dence at M.I.T., proposed the idea in
2016 to her colleagues, who then got to
work on the nanotubes. Three years later,
they have turned a two-million-dollar
diamond into a black hole.
“The Redemption of Vanity” chal-
lenges the nature of value attachment.
But news reports have cast the piece as
a scientific feat by M.I.T. engineers.
Anish Kapoor is usually mentioned.
Strebe isn’t.
“I wanted to make a diamond disap-
pear,” she said, the other day, standing
next to the blob. “I didn’t know that IThe surprised guests waved to the fa-
mous family, and the family waved back.
The groom got closer. He saw West
getting out of his vehicle, and he walked
up and introduced himself. “I just shook
Kanye’s hand,” Lance told some guests
during setup. “I told him that I was the
groom, and thanked him.” West appar-
ently said, “No problem,” and then he
and Kardashian offered their congrats.
“He’s not at all what I expected. He’s
pretty quiet, and very nice,” Lance said.
“He has a higher-pitched voice than I
expected.” Asked if he was nervous,
Lance grew philosophical. “He’s just a
man,” he said.
The next day, Lance and Shyla, who
was five months pregnant, said their
vows by the lake near West’s barn. The
barn’s interior had been decorated with
swags of lace and a Wyoming state flag.
Mason jars, filled with flowers and tiny
lights, glowed on the tables, where guests
ate pulled pork and potato salad. As the
reception got under way, a whisper went
around: West and Kardashian were going
to make an appearance.
Around the barn, the word “Kanye”
was audible in every other sentence, like
a murmur of cicadas. One guest won-
dered why the Wests had bought the
place, given the “Applebee’s-level food”
in Cody and the fact that West isn’t
known to be a fly fisherman. A woman
chimed in, “If you knew the area, you’d
probably buy up the South Fork.” (Mon-
ster Lake Ranch is so close to the Mee-
teetse Highway that there’s traffic noise
at all hours.) The father of the groom
upped the ante during his toast: “He’s
not here yet, but I’d like to give a big
shout-out to Kanye West!” Mike said.
“He’s bent over backward to make this
wedding happen.”
Like Vladimir and Estragon, the guests
debated the possibilities. Maybe the Wests
would make a brief appearance: congrat-
ulate the newlyweds and leave. This, one
guest put in, would endear them to the
community. But another wondered,
Would it upstage Lance and Shyla? Or,
another suggested, maybe West would
come alone, and rap some lines from his
song “Monster.” (Maybe this line: “My
presence is a present, kiss my ass.”)
The plates were cleared, the cake
was cut. The Wests never showed up.
There was a little grumbling, but it didn’t
dim the happiness of the newlyweds.
• •
1
DEPT.OFDISAPPEARANCES
INVERSEDUCHAMP
T
oward the back of the sixth-floor
boardroom of the New York Stock
Exchange—past the fake skylight and
the real Fabergé urn—there’s a black,
walnut-size blob on display. One might
miss it, were it not covered by a glass
dome and protected by a red velvet rope.
The blob is actually a seventeen-carat
yellow diamond, which scientists at
M.I.T. coated with carbon nanotubes
that absorb 99.995 per cent of light, cre-
ating the blackest black on earth—darker,
even, than Vantablack, which, in 2016,
the sculptor Anish Kapoor laid claim to.
This new blackest black is ten times—
Wait. There’s someone who would
be unhappy with the way this story is
unspooling. (Someone besides Anish
Kapoor, that is.) Let’s start over.
Diemut Strebe, a German artist, has
spent her career mixing science and art,
always at the risk of having one disci-“I was relieved, in a way,” the groom
said. “It would have overwhelmed ev-
erything. In the end, I think Kanye un-
derstood that.”
—Corey Morris