Fading is not just loss

Tina & Feline

PROJECT

Setup: A big piece of dyed fabric, with many objects laying on it, exposed to sunlight (outside) Visitors are invited to remove a thing from the table.

This project doesn’t depict time — it uses time as a material. The fading color becomes a register of passing time, not through numbers but through absence. Every objects or contact leaves marks, showing the temporality of traces (metaphor for memory, aging, decay, forgetting).

Fugitive inks, natural dyes, or UV-reactive pigments have intrinsic impermanence — they embody temporality. The Objects placed on the surface become agents of change, not fixed elements. (Each object becomes a little sun-dial) Light acts as both a creator and destroyer — exposing and erasing simultaneously.

Presence itself is erosive — the more we interact, the more we erase. Visitors are invited to leave marks, knowing they will fade, and maybe even fade faster because of their own contact. With that the piece becomes what happens at the event.

Ideas

Digital website cause we use what we have at hand right now. what is accessible to us.

Picket books - research book with fabric cover – glue bind ?

Website

Schedule

09.06 – experiment root dye

11.06 – research check in

20.06 – print book

27.06 collect objects

check-up 13.06: We did the beet root experiment, but we need to continue – the sun is not really reliable sadly. Giving the time we have during the event we thought of translating the whole idea onto a website. The background is fading and objects can be placed. Maybe we take the research objects and combine the research and the actual fading. The objects will leave marks that are fading only after the object is moved, creating an interesting and unique pattern tracking the event.

Anthotype

RESEARCH

Quipu

A Quipu is a knot-based communication tool/system. It is known to be used by various cultures, most prominently by the Inca Empire, in the central Andes of South America between c. 2600 BCE – c. 1900 CE. The quipu served as a sophisticated mnemonic device, enabling the Inca to record and communicate numerical data, dates, durations, and astronomical events.

At their prime the Inca Empire was huge and known to have an extraordinary level of administrative efficiency, maintaining precise records of all available resources and manpower. Instead of writing those informations down like other cultures, they had their own special system of keeping track of all sorts of things using specially woven cords with branching structures and knots called Quipu. Each Quipu has a main string that is quite thick and thinner strings attached to it. Multiple colors, materials and lengths of strings allow storing a big variety of information and data. The placement of the knots indicate even more information. Some of the strings are grouped together with an additional string. Some strings have different colored string attached to it. Unfortunately there is no documentation of what the colors actually meant, but researchers speculate that a green string for example indicates the quantity of corn, while a yellow cord attached to it would signify its value in gold. Artifact Quipus vary from a few strings to several thousand, hinting multiple ways of usage.

How is this a time keeping device you may ask. Its not in the way we think about time nowadays. Rather than keeping track of time itself, they kept record of what happened during that time. The Incan approach to time was inherently cyclical, grounded in the rhythms of nature and the celestial bodies. Instead of a fixed calendar, the Inca employed a sophisticated system of observation and record-keeping, relying on a blend of astronomical knowledge, agricultural cycles, and symbolic representations to navigate the passage of time helping them organize their lives. The Quipu also ensured that knowledge is handed over to the next generations, allowing them to build upon it and maintaining a high standard in organizing their culture.

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incense

Run primarily by fire, the incense clock was popular in China during the early Qing Dynasty. The principle of the incense clock is combustion. Working as a timer by burning down an incense stick in calibrated rates. Most of these clocks were elaborate, sometimes having threads with weights attached at even intervals. The weights would drop onto a platter or gong below, signifying that a set amount of time had passed. Others have different kinds of fragrances for different timeframes.

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Candle clock

This type of timekeeping device relied on the constant speed of a burning object, some examples are a candle, incense or burning lamps. Given the time period this was used for, records show that people used everyday materials to construct such devices. The time would be measured by how much was left on the burning candle, some would even calculate the time by marking the hours on the candle itself.

While reading "Candle in the Wind: Weather and the Alfredian Candle Clock", an article written by Neville Mogford, Kind Alfred is described as a prominent person in the invention of the candle clock (the year was 900). In this text, what was interesting to note is the fact that Alfred was constantly burned by the weather; the wind and cloudy weather would disrupt his prayer time, which made it an issue to measure how much time he was dedicating to god. Mogford states that "monks were forced to look to other sources of authority when access to the heavens was closed off by poor weather." This meant that the weather was no longer a reliable source of time keeping.

"Often, this weather is the storm—a vast and unfathomable force, an unnegotiable agent of destruction and ruin, and a source of abject fear and darkest despair" (Mogford, 2021). Moving away from the heaves and looking at candles as sources of time keeping meant that there was an uninterrupted order of time. Eventually, another problem arose as strong winds meant that the candle clock became inaccurate and time was sped up when using this device. The text mentions that the horn lamp was later on crafted, to shield the candle clock from oncoming wind, often comparing it to a guiding star.

Throughout this text, Mogford reminds us that the candle clock is an allegorical reminder of our body clock (our biological clock). He mentions that "decay of the artifact signifies the decay of the artificer". The candle, an object that constantly burns, also reminds us that our time is passing.

- insert note here about the time passing similiarily on the dyded fabric -

Process

The first experiments with fabric and beetroot dye are done. Takeaways are: Useing the beetroot juice works better than the mousse (or how do you call that lol?). Fabric needs to be 100% cotton. Bedsheets worked the best and had the prettiest shade of pink. The Fabric has to dry completely before exposing it to sunlight.

What happens if there is no sunlight? – we decided to also make a web version of our project to showcase the whole experiment regardless of the weather. We still do the thing, but if nothing happens, its not a failed experiment – we could also mention the importance of weather for ancient timekeeping tools and that our standards to keep track of time are so high that the old ways are not serving anymore. But then to still show the thing we have the website. Beautiful. This web version also allows us to archive the whole experiment in another way. And we can combine the research with the actual thing.

QUESTIONS

– Do we keep a logbook? Keep photos of the pocess?

– Do we want to put stickers, papers, infomaterial on the table as well? Cause visitors are taking it away...

– Fred:"It should have text."