Commisioned by Edy Fung as part of Hyperobjects at Catalyst Arts.

"Hyperobjects are nonlocal, molten and phased, manifesting everywhere in different ways. Morton argues that the total sum of entropy in the universe is a hyperobject; the certain slow increase in entropy, as dictated by the second law of thermodynamics, is postulated by physicists to be the reason why we perceive time linearly and moving in one direction, time’s arrow.

By extension, Robin Price’s The Total Sum of Seconds Since Midnight January 1st 1970 is also a hyperobject. This date, picked by early programmers as the epoch by which to measure “computer time” is the so called UNIX epoch. The epoch is recorded in modern computers as 64 binary digits or bits, either on or off. The 32 bit epoch will run out at 3:14 am and 8 seconds on Tuesday the 19th of January 2038. The 64 bit epoch will overflow 293 billion years in the future, over twenty times the age of the known universe."

Shown: 7 November - 5 December 2019, Catalyst Arts, Belfast

Materials: Microcontroller, Internet Connection, ntp server, Acrylic, Wood, LEDs

THE SUM TOTAL OF SECONDS SINCE MIDNIGHT JANUARY 1ST 1970

Curated by: Edy Fung

Photo and Video Credit Simon Mills 2019