Keali-Clock
Personal preference and style instinctively propelled me in a design, illustrative, streamlined, or nature/environmental-oriented approach to the assignment; the fact that it was an assignment with a timekeeping topic kept my ideas in check by balancing them with functionality and utility. As “abstract” was a key word to the work’s intentions, I geared my ideas towards nature, going through processes as a growing tree (trunk growing by the hour, branches by minute, leaves/flowers by second), and eventually the sky. The sky idea stuck with me, in that since origin has time reflexively been associated with the aerial plane–in regards to stargazing, orbits of planets, rotations of celestial bodies, etcetera. I decided to further this idea as I settled on my approach: with little star specks appear every second, bigger and brighter stars every minute, and constellation fragments per hour of current time; all of these would also be characterized by continuous rotations and dimming/brightening cycles via some calculation of milliseconds. Hence the product of a non-overwhelming, yet abstract starry night interface of my clock, appealing both my environmental and design-based tendencies; while it is reasonably possible to tell the time by counting constellation segments and stars, the effect is still subtle and the utility requires some effort; but in connection with how time and mother nature wait for no one, I want the audience to feel relaxed while viewing the atmospheric vibe of the work–and to sink in to a mere vague notion of time, and to admire the characteristics of this nature-based simulation.
Food for future thought: generation of mist/galaxy patterns/smoke throughout, possible integration of calming instrumental music, other celestial bodies/comets (may sacrifice utility and functionality however), subtle rotation of constellation figures around some origin…
