Project #3 - Experimental Clock

Objective

Design and code an experimental clock that expresses a novel way of tracking time.

Submission

Reflection

In brainstorming ideas for an unconvential clock, I was most drawn to ideating around markers of time linked to my daily life, especially in this time period where I've spend so much time at home. Things like the number of books I tend to read a month, the number of tabs I have open as the day progresses, the number of cups of tea or water I drink a day made it to my sketch board. I ended up choosing to create a sketch of an experimental clock depicting an abstract rendition of what I envision as the church bell in my Brooklyn neighborhood, that rings at every hour. During the most despondent moments of early quarantine, I found great solace in long walks around my neighbordhood. There faint sound of church bells ringing at every hour, and they would always come as a surprise, while sending me a signal of time passing. There was always an invisible anticipation that came with these walks: while I didn't know where the clock was coming from, what it looked like, and exactly when it would ring, I knew that I could expect soft dings in the near future.

This sketch turns that invisible anticipation into a visible one. The bell slowly becomes visible over time. The color of the lines constructing the side of the bell is linked to the number of minutes that has passed in the hour, as well as the bell dangle. There are two indicators of seconds passing: a ball that moves around the bell handle until it becomes filled solid yellow, as well as a circle that dances inside the bell dangle. At the end of the hour, the bell is fully visible and the sound of a bell plays.

Designing and coding the clock helped me to think about which elements of time I felt compelled to convey and which aspects I felt drawn towards leaving out. Everyone percieves the passage of time in different ways, and this informed these decisions for me.