Clock(above) was the first work to deal with this theme
(light as both giver and taker of life). The plaque on the
front of Clock reads "THIS LIGHT WHEN ACTIVATED WILL
COMPLETELY DISSIPATE THE WOOD SPECIMEN WITHIN 350 YEARS.
12.5.93."A thoroughly analogue construction, the light in
Clock will (by breaking the carbon bonds holding
the wood together) evaporate the wood in it within 350 years.
The Hours Remaining in the Life of Allan Giddy
The Hours Remaining in the Life of Allan Giddy is a
digital construction. It is a backwards counting machine. I
calculated how many hours I would have left to live based on
the average life span of a New Zealand male born in the 1960s,
then programmed this information into my small machine and
set it running. I took care, allowing the machine to retain
memory (using capacitance) during "night-sleep" periods when
the display disappears while the "machine" counts more
slowly. Somewhat more theatrical than Clock, this
piece, while counting the hours remaining until my presumed
demise, is in fact an autonomous agent, freed from its maker
while contracting its rhythms and pace towards its own demise
from its independent reaction to the light around it.
Allan Giddy, 4/157 Curlewis Street, Bondi Beach 2026, Sydney,
Australia.
E-mail:agiddy@aspana.org.au
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