Digital HourGlass

Oliver Kellow

The “Digital HourGlass” is an abstracted hourglass form set in granite and extending an antenna towards the sky.
Like the sands in a regular hourglass the “Digital HourGlass” will change from one binary state to the other when the upper bulb expires. The viewer may interact with the hourglass, changing the power configuration significantly and increasing the stress on the bulb filament.
Symbolically, it represents the consciously marked passage of time and energy while providing no reference point to gauge the amount of time or energy remaining or previously spent. The only known value is that as a physical and familiar device it must degrade and expire. The moment of transition is pure serendipity, unpredictable to the both author and the viewer.
This consciousness of time, energy and material decay is accentuated by the physicality of the high consumption, antiquated Edison bulbs used and the exposed circuitry and mechanism. This is a simple reminder that although time and energy is always in flux, we do have the capability to alter its path.