the first thoughts & sketches about time in a city were drawn back in 2005. then it was put in the waiting line... a studio in 2009 was made where a filter for happiness was sought for... i knew i had something in the archives- it's time to revisit time, in a city...
happiness
happiness should be
ACCESSIBLE
- One shouldn’t wait for happiness in a queue area with a paper in hand saying "Your number is 35"
- “No happiness today” sign is inadmissible
- It shouldn’t be at the top of Mount Everest - everyone is welcomed
FAST
- The happiness doesn’t need some special preperation, suits and hundreds of buttons to push
MOBILE
- It has to be movable, as the places where happiness is needed changes
- The same happiness should be reused
GRATIS
- The best things in life are for free
REPRODUCABLE
- Suited for mass production as it is needed for masses
COLLECTIVE
- The happiness should be a collective feeling, it should aggregate
GENERALLY UNDERSTANDABLE
- One doesn’t have to hold a masters degree in hi-tech stuff, to make happiness start working
HAPPY
happiness is perception, it is a way of knowing
A pleasurable or satisfying experience. /Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary/
Emotions experienced when in a state of well-being. /wordnet.princeton.edu/
happiness can be achieved
Filtering things that make unhappy, letting in or creating knowing of happiness.
FILTER (Verb) - Remove by passing through a filter; “filter out the impurities”.
/wordnet.princeton.edu/
filter works by altering the perception
INDIVIDUAL IS UNHAPPY.
INDIVIDUAL IS CITY.
CITY IS SPACE.
SPACE IS TIME.
CITY IS TIME.
INDIVIDUAL IS TIME.
IF ALTERING TIME IN A SPECIFIC WAY, INDIVIDUAL MAY BECOME HAPPY.
FILTERING TIME MEANS FILTERING SPACE,
AND FILTERING SPACE MEANS FILTERING TIME
In present (here and now) the scale of an individual fades in a city environment. Both- when observing, and experiencing.
The feel of irrelevance/ inability to alter the processes/ flow/ time in a city follows everyday as our relationship with surroundings/ environment becomes more and more distant/ abstract; no feeling of adherence to the city; parting. Frankly, we are the ones, who pattern the city!
Time in a city can be expressed as durability/ unpredictable trace. The corrosive actions and effects towards surroundings shaped by weather/ time. Hence we can feel ‘age’/ ’stain of time’, distinction it from the ‘new’. City is a reflection of its usage, the marks of time define past, present and also future. Those marks show development... patinated copper, plaster. Yet this roof, these walls have been a shelter for somebody/ they had their use. The use as a mark of time/ the time as a mark of use.
People pattern the city through time unconsciously. Human/ brutal(?). Logical/ chaotic. Shaping, tailoring it unaware to their needs/ wants- shortcuts in city park lawns, cuts on park benches, stickers and tags on dustbins, trodden paths in city buildings concrete hallways.
What is time for us in a city?
It has always been that people want to express their selves, to record oneself in the time, hence in the city. Psychologically and physically we do it by leaving marks in the city- to accommodate the city to ourselves; to get the feeling of belonging, further developing it. ‘Time’ can’t be separated from ‘space’.
There should be a way that an individual could ‘log in’ the time. ‘Log in’ the city. Control the time. Control the city. Act.
One can’t just require from city, he must be willing to give. A need for dialogue - if one gives time, only then gets it back.
The material-technical solution is photochromism. Photochromic glass.
Individual can ‘burn’ the shadow of his silhouette/ palm touching the photochromic screen. He can draw. Due to properties of the material - the more time he gives to city the longer it stays on it. It is a display of the past. And the solution should not be egoistic - the next may join or wait those minutes before previous marks are erased.
Junctions of a city, horizontal communication paths shift. Shift because of development. And vice versa.
Site for the installation- ..anywhere.. Hyperurbanized focus/ surrounded by glimmering facades/ suburban areas/ parks. Its shape (straight/ curved) may also vary from the location as well the supports- structure can be ground supportive or suspended to facades..
This project asks questions and demands answers. Ways how happiness can be created and social environment can be affected only by slightly changing the city in physical way, by changing perception. What are the concerns in the city? Time? Lack of it? Overproduction?
the filter
current sketch, v.0.3
photochromism
Photochromism is defined as a reversible phototransformation of a chemical species between two forms having different absorption spectra. /Chemical Reviews (2000), vol 100, issue 5: Thematic issue on photochromism/
Capability of changing color on exposure to radiant energy (as light) /The Dow Chemical Company/
photochromic glass
A glass that darkens when exposed to light but regains its original transparency a few minutes after light is removed; the rate of clearing increases with temperature. /Answers.com/
A light-sensitive glass that automatically darkens in sunlight and clears in reduced light. /The American Heritage Medical Dictionary/
properties
Typically, photochromic glass darkens substantially in response to UV light in less than one minute, and then continue to darken very slightly over the next fifteen minutes. The glass fades back to clear along a similar pattern. The ratio of darkening can be altered by changing properties of the acting components.
possible screen materials
Glass (currently used)
Traditional photochromic glass is generally alkali boroaluminosilicate with 0.01 to 0.1 percent silver halide and a small amount of copper.
Silver chloride (AgCl) and copper (I) chloride (CuCl) crystals are added during the manufacturing of the glass while it is in the molten state and these crystals become uniformly embedded in the glass as it solidifies. One characteristic of silver chloride is its suscepitibility to oxidation and reduction by light as described below.
Cl- -----------> Cl + e- oxidation Ag+ + e- -----------> Ag reduction
The chloride ions are oxidized to produce chlorine atoms and an electron. The electron is then transferred to silver ions to produce silver atoms. These atoms cluster together and block the transmittance of light, causing the lenses to darken. This process occurs almost instantaneously.
The presence of copper (I) chloride reverses the darkening process in the following way. When the lenses are removed from light, the following reactions occur:
Cl + Cu+ ---> Cu+2 + Cl- oxidizing agent reducing agent oxidized species reduced species
The chlorine atoms formed by the exposure to light are reduced by the copper ions, preventing their escape as gaseous atoms from the matrix. The copper (+1) ion is oxidized to produce copper (+2) ions, which then reacts with the silver atoms as shown.
Cu+2 + Ag ---> Cu+1 + Ag+ oxidizing agent reducing agent reduced species oxidized species
The net effect of these reactions is that the lenses become transparent again as the silver and chloride atoms are converted to their original oxidized and reduced states.
Plastic / Polycarbonate
Photochromic molecules (for example oxazines and naphthopyrans) are located in thin film (about 150 µm), covering either one or both sides of a screen.
ultraviolet (UV) light
Ultraviolet (UV) light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength in the range 10 nm to 400 nm. It means that glass has to be transparent in this range.alkali boroaluminosilicate glass
+ mechanical strength
+ scratching, environment a.o. factors don’t affect the acting characteristics
- expensive
- heavy, extra transportation costs
alternatives to fused quartz / silicia layer (sorted by UV transparency)
Polystyrene (PS) without UV stabilisers, poly(1-phenylethane-1,2-diyl)
Acrylic glass (PMMA) without UV stabilisers, poly(methyl 2-methylpropenoate)
v.0.4. to follow
