Zhang Wang's (center) man-made stone at the Today Art Museum Photo: Xu Liuliu

By Xu Liuliu

And God said, "Let there be light!" And then there was light. But if artist Zhan Wang wants light, all he needs to do is press a button marked "Light" at one end of the machine he's created capable of making stones in under an hour. His device is also supposedly in control of all other basic elements: rain, wind and fire. All at the push of a button.

"It takes millions of years to make a stone naturally," he told reporters at the launch of his recent exhibit at the Today Art Museum that ended yesterday. "The idea to make stones came to me months ago, so I found an engineer who helped me make this machine."

Zhan poured a large bag of stone powder into a stirring mill that produced a stone-like paste. He and his assistants then pushed the stone paste into a metal box that had glass screens on two sides.

"I must say that it might fail," he said while pushing the machine's "Start" button. "The results are random." In an hour, the paste had been turned into solid rock. He did admit, however, that the result could have been only a stone-like substance, and not genuine stone.

"I just want to show how stones can be created in nature," he said. "So it doesn't matter what the end result is." Zhan also showed those present some of his earlier man-made stone on display alongside the machine.