Floating Time V2 - C - 12

Tatsuo Miyajima 1957

Summary

Computer-controlled random digital numbers, continuously changing and counting down from 9 to 1, each at its own set rhythm are projected on to the surface of one of a series of low tables of different colours at which the viewer can sit. This installation from 2002 builds on his earlier LED number works. Some of the numbers appear and move quickly, others move slowly. The aim is to illustrate conceptually the relationship of human beings with time and space. Time as a scientific and philosophical abstraction is explored in Miyajima's work. In the apparent randomness, time appears fractured. Zero, which for the artist represents an end, is never used. Time is not presented as linear, but as fluid, complex, cyclical and multi-layered.