I'll introduce it from the start, for those who don't know what I've been looking at.
As a starting point, the study examines how the perception of our position in the world is shaped by our relationship to surroundings, people, ideas and our possessions. Our alignment to these things creates what we call our identity and this gradually shifts as we sift through what we do know, what don’t know, and what we choose not to know or to neglect. In part, I specifically address how the artist and scientist respectively make sense of the universe and attempt to relay their positions through various metaphorical and real devices; specifically through the Panorama and Diorama buildings.
Cross section and plan through Robert Baker's panorama, Leicester Square, London, 1976 in Oettermann, S., 1997, The Panorama, New York, Zone Books, pg 104
This developed into examining the historical preoccupation with locating ourselves within the universe. The study concentrates on the era prior to the machine; specifically the transition from the geometric and geocentric theory of the world as narrated by Aristotle to that of the Astrolabe in the dawning Islamic World. By introducing movement to geometry through the Astrolabe, the Islamic astronomers suggested an early form of relativity, where all points in the sky were relative to one another and the earth below. Through this device, medieval society cultivated an intimate understanding of the earth and sky, and the way in which both were interlinked in the present and as a means for predicting the future.
Unequal hours diagram show shorter hours during the winter, longer hours in the winter
Diagram show construction of Astrolabe geometry using stereographic projection
I consider the implications of using the celestial spheres as a universal instrument for negating how we live our lives, translated architecturally through the clock tower. As our cultural images change, our means of orientating ourselves within the landscape alter. Parts of the landscape are reappropriated and assigned with different meanings. During medieval times in St Albans, the abbey and clock tower became a focal reference point from which time (based on that kept by the monks) was relayed to the populus.
Wallingford Clock, St Albans
In a contemporary society where time is democratised through personal time keeping devices, the clock tower becomes an orientation device in a geographical manner (like Kevin Lynch's image of the city notion), and new means of orientation relate to our global positioning and information networks. Mobile phone masts and wireless connectivity enable us to orientate to our own networks, and the strenght of these signals and their interface's determine the degree to which we become connected.
Map showing global internet bandwidth
http://throb.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/world_bandwidth_usage.jpg
Can the overlaying of historical and contemporary orientational fields reveal the true nature of our position in the world in space and time, and a new clock tower architecture? How does a contemporary 'clock tower' manifest?
