Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Corpus Clock & Chronophage

So I read about this at the BBC, and was awed. Then my friend found the video of the clock in operation...



And that was about when the mechanical engineer geek in me kicked in. This is a gorgeous piece of work. Makes me want to run to cambridge to steal it, so I can open it up. *grin* My major fascination is with the grasshopper escapement's mechanism. It's very intriguing how the motion can turn the wheel/pendulum. O_O Took me awhile to figure out how it was working - looks as if there's some pivoting motion by the legs to actually push the wheel round.

Particularly interesting, also, is how the clock is laden with metaphors, as explained by his creator in the video. About how time radiates out, like waves, and is really relative to a person's perspective, with varying lengths. And how time is constantly being eaten away, running out and away from our lives...

Interestingly, the clock is only accurate every 5 minutes. Makes for a rather unreliable clock, but pretty nonetheless, and extremely meaningful.

stardusted at 11:49 AM | link?

1 stayReal

1 Call me number 1!

ha, you picked up on our clock! It's beautiful. Really hypnotic. The first day it opened my friend and I just stood in front of it for minutes on end staring at it. There is a permanent congregation (spilling onto the road!) of gawkers -- I walk past it every day, though, so I don't need to gawk so much :)

By Blogger tzozen, at Sep 25, 2008, 8:56:00 AM  

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