Abstract
Modern day life and timekeepers have profoundly affected the way we conceptualize time and our position in the universe. Over the past year, I have been investigating the apparent movement of the Sun both sculpturally and photographically. In this paper, I discuss my collaborations with Woody Sullivan and highlight several of the sundials, both gigantic and intimate, created by University of Washington students in the class Where is Noon? Regarding Giant Sundials that we co-taught in Spring 2003. I have continued to develop artistic approaches to solar events. Some of these sunworks have not been designed specifically to measure the exact time of day as a classic sundial does, but to stimulate a greater awareness of our subjective and paradoxical relationship to nature and technology. Other, almost domestic, poetic, humorous or intimate ways of interacting with science and technology are being actively explored. I will also provide a background to previous works I have done in relation to the Sun and optics, and briefly mention artists who are using astronomical events as a point of departure.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
9. References
Heilbron, J.L., 1999. The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Kemp, Martin, 1990. The Science of Art: Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat. New Haven, Yale University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cummins, R. (2005). Light Work. In: Orchiston, W. (eds) The New Astronomy: Opening the Electromagnetic Window and Expanding Our View of Planet Earth. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 334. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3724-4_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3724-4_18
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-3723-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-3724-5
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)