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Design

A Gear System Helps Visualize the Magnitude of One Googol, or 1 Followed by 100 Zeros

To celebrate spending one billion seconds on Earth, Daniel de Bruin created a gear system that represents the number googol (that’s the digit 1 with 100 zeros behind it). Every time the first wheel completes 1,000 rotations, which happens in about an hour, the second gear turns 100 notches and the third 10. Each following wheel is reduced by 10, meaning in order to turn the last and 100th one, the system would need a googol of energy, which the Netherlands-based designer says is “a number that’s bigger than the atoms in the known universe.” He tells Colossal that when working perfectly, each gear is perpetually in motion. “Visible to the human eye, I could only see ten gears moving in my lifetime,” he says. For more of de Bruin’s mind-boggling projects—like his totally analog 3D printer and pneumatic pinball machine and can opener—head to his Instagram or YouTube.

 

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A post shared by Daniel de Bruin (@daniel_de_bruin) on Mar 1, 2020 at 3:05am PST

Art

Human-Powered Clocks by Maarten Baas Physically Mark the Passage of Time

Dutch artist Maarten Baas produces artworks that lie at the intersection of visual art, performance, and design, creating manual clocks that are erased and redrawn on the stroke of each minute. In pieces like Grandfather Clock and Schiphol Clock Baas places himself within the structure of the time-telling devices, functioning as the works’ human mechanism. Other pieces from his Real Time series use the assistance of another performer to create 12-hour films, such as a line of perpetually swept trash doubling as a clock arm. Baas began the time-based series in 2009 at the Salone Del Mobile in Milan, Italy, and has a current piece in the group exhibition Design by Time at the Pratt Institute through April 13, 2019. You can see more of his works on his website, Instagram, and Vimeo, and in the videos below.

Art

Sunlight Casts Shadows of Phrases Exploring Theories of Time in a Street Art Installation by DAKU

Pseudonymous Indian street artist DAKU recently installed an immersive text-based work in Panjim, Goa. Placed along 31st January Road, a fishnet structure suspends letters above pedestrians. The region’s abundant sunlight pours through to cast shadows on the street, spelling out tropes about the passage of time. Some of the phrases include, “Time works wonders. Time moves. Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind. Time fades. Time is an illusion.” The temporary installation, titled Theory of Time, was supported by the public art nonprofit St+art India, as part of the Start Goa festival.  DAKU often integrates language into his urban interventions. You can see more from the artist on Instagram.

 

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A post shared by Colossal (@colossal) on Jan 19, 2019 at 6:34am PST

Art

‘Salt Years,’ Explores Sigalit Landau’s Lifetime Relationship With the Dead Sea

Israeli artist Sigalit Landau (previously) has a practice that is deeply tied to working with the Dead Sea. Landau uses the hypersaline body of water as both a photographic backdrop and medium to suspend everyday objects, creating densely salt-encrusted sculptures. The items she chooses for her pieces are sometimes simply based on their textures and shapes, while others are chosen in order to filter memories that have been passed down to the artist through her parents and grandparents.

“These objects leave ‘the game’ of being useful ‘things’ and enter a new realm – the open space of representation,” said Landau to Colossal. “They loose their old features and dimensions and inhale a certain pureness of spirit, treated by climate and enhanced by emotion.”

A new book titled Salt Years, explores Landau’s process, bringing a new perspective to her salt crystal sculptures, video art, and images created over the last 15 years. Within the book Landau explores her process of “baptizing” objects in the Dead Sea’s waters, showcasing how the salt-filled sea breathes new life into the inanimate works through behind-the-scenes photos, and personal notes and essays.

You can pre-order the 288-page book through Landau’s Indiegogo campaign, and follow its progress through the book’s Facebook.

Design

Float Through Time with Flyte’s New Magnetized Clock

Tell time or count down the moments until your next big life event with STORY, a new magnetized piece from Flyte (previously). The company’s latest design is an improvement to the wall clock, a work that uses powerful magnetism to move a hovering metal ball around STORY’s edge.

The designed object was built with three modes. With the Journey setting, you can set your mechanism to a specific date, watching the magnetic ball travel along the circular piece of wood until the ball reaches an upcoming moment such as a vacation or birth of a child. Selecting Clock allows you to use the object more like a traditional timepiece, and finally Timer acts as a short term countdown for kitchen prep or time out.

STORY also features a shining digital display to add detail to your chosen setting, and is backlit to be seen in the dark. When synced with Flyte’s mobile app, you can also use the backlight to demonstrate realtime sunsets, sunrises, and phases of the moon.

STORY was just launched on Kickstarter. You can see more of Flyte’s levitating designs, including a set of floating planters, on their website.

Design

This 24-Hour Clock Gradually Transitions You From Dusk to Dawn

All images via Scott Thrift

Instead of being a slave to the numbers on your clock, designer Scott Thrift would like you to have a more peaceful relationship to your timepiece, one that revolves around gradients and soothing colors rather than numerals. Today, his newest design, is a 24-hour timepiece that moves at half the speed of a typical clock, and operates on times of the day rather than numeric classifications. The subtle blues and purples that make up the clock’s gradient break down the day into dawn, noon, dusk, and midnight, allowing for a gradual transition rather than one that evokes stress by watching numbers tick by.

You can preorder Today on Thrift’s Kickstarter, or visit his previous clock design The Present on his website. (via My Modern Met)