Open Time: how might we open up time?

» See notes and documentation of this past event

 

Saturday September 10, 2011 – 10am workshop, 6pm dinner

The space-time warp effect on planet mercury's orbit as it goes behind the sun in relation to us.

Join us for an interdisciplinary gathering across time and space (New Zealand and Denmark) to find different ways to think about time.

A simultaneous dinner and breakfast will be held where projects, perspectives, provocations, debates and ideas are shared.

Local workshops will precede the dinner. Participants are welcome to come to one or both. Lunch and dinner are both potluck so to keep numbers flexible, so please bring something to add to the pool.

Topic Summary & Challenge

Einstein thought that the time at your head, was different to the time at your feet – that all time is relative. Due in part to standing on a large mass such as the earth, the basis of this idea was later proven by the slowing of time as light signals pass by the sun.

The chronological time of our clocks today are a socio-political construct of convenience, but there are many ways to think about time. Various ancient and current cultures and calendars regard time as cyclical, while the most recent theories involve time as growing, granular clusters. In our everyday life, we tend to perceive time at human scale, forgetting the deep time of the earth’s 4.5 billion years or the Universe’s 13 billion or more.

Time-keeping can be constructed from anything with regular oscillations or intervals of change. Everything from the sun, stars, moon, pendulums, and magnetism, through to beetles, flowers, and prawn sandwiches can be used. Some options being more ‘accurate’ than others…

But if all time is relative… then how might one ‘hack’ time to make it your own? For example, what might be some ways to think about and create your own local or global times that might hold layers of meaning relevant to you and others around you? What other ways might we visualize time? Or how might we remind ourselves of the wider perspectives of deep time?

Spend some time with us on Saturday, September 10th for a simultaneous dinner/breakfast between New Zealand and Denmark where Physicists, Philosophers, Hackers, Thinkers and Tinkers, Anthropologists, Astronomers and Artists will gather to discuss this mind-bending topic. Come armed with your time-hacking thoughts, proposals and projects and develop your project for face-off with creative technology hacktivists across the globe. May the best projects warp our brains.

 

 

Workshop & Dinner – Schedule & Format

Dinners and dialogue events are held as social occasions for the informal sharing of knowledge and perspectives. This event explores the dinner as a format for exchange of knowledge and ideas between different people in different countries and different timezones. The dinners will take place in Denmark and New Zealand at two very different locations: Platform 4 and the House of Wonder. Because of the different timezones the breakfast in Denmark will be held Saturday 10th at 8–11am in Aalborg, Denmark and 6–9pm in Miranda, New Zealand.

We launch the event with two workshops held in each country, both dealing with the hacking of time. The workshop in Denmark will be facilitated by Olof Werngren (SE) and will take place Friday September 9th from 7–10pm. The workshop in New Zealand will be facilitated by Trudy Lane and held Saturday 10th, from 10–4pm.

All dinner/breakfast guests are invited to bring along their own ‘wonders’, as they relate to the topic of the evening. We will dine simultaneously and start out with a short self-introductions and a 5min presentation from participants. We’ll have shared discussions throughout the dinner. House of Wonder is a space for encouraging the sharing ideas, skills, intrigues, perspectives, observations and fascinations. These can be communicated however you would like – a short korero/statement, a poem, an image or film, an object, or a short demonstration of some kind. It is also fine to just come along, contribute food (NZ), and listen.

Event Programme:

New Zealand
Workshop: Saturday September 10th, 10am-4pm, New Zealand, House of Wonder
Dinner: Saturday September 10th, 6pm-9pm, New Zealand, House of Wonder

Denmark
Workshop: Friday September 9th, 7pm-9pm, Denmark, Platform 4, Aalborg
Dinner: Saturday September 10th, 8am-11am, Denmark, Platform 4 Aalborg

 

 

New Zealand Workshop – Developing a Geological Timewalk

Thecate dinoflagellate species of the genus Protoperidinium in dorsal view showing the thecal plates (SEM). © Mona Hoppenrath

We exist largely within a human scale of time. Days, weeks, months, years and lifetimes. Maybe the previous century or two has some relative clarity to us in our imaginations. Rarely do we cast our minds into the awesome expanse of deep time to try to comprehend the timescales associated with existence of the earth, or of the universe. Densely complex and difficult to comprehend in it’s vastness and complexity, their contents remains mysterious and unknown to most.

We are interested in this workshop, to attempt to together design a walk through the geologic time scale, as part of a discussion with the neighbours and other participants who might join. We will use materials at hand to prototype the idea, and discuss what might be some ways to implement the project either temporarily or in the long-term.

Locals and participants are invited to ‘adopt’ forms & creatures from these long ago periods, and have a go at making something to represent them, also with the materials at hand, to put on the timeline. Plenty of visual inspiration and information will be provided. You just need to come along and bring any extra paint, bits of wood, or other scrap house or farm materials going unused. Any extra wood and wire, etc working tools you can bring will be handy (name it!). A large workshop room, benches, and some tools will be provided. Families and kids welcome.

Time: 10am–4pm (max, can leave earlier if need to).
Place: 928 Findlay Road, Miranda – See Map
Lunch: Potluck – please bring something.
Things to bring: old paint, wood, tools (various – wood, wire, paper). Measuring tapes. Lunch!

 

 

» See notes and documentation of this past event

 

 

 

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