lynette design

One Square Metre

The length one metre has been defined in different ways over time. Measured by arbitary local customs, pendulums, fractions of the size of the earth and according to the speed of light. Maybe my sound piece could explore the differing definition of one metre over history and what this means for people's perception of space and their need for accuracy.

I could explore the way accuracy has increased so much in our lives today, and our scientific ideas and needs for accuracy have progressed so much, but rely on the same priniples as they did when people first started defining one metre.

Also look at the univeralising nature of definitions of space and time, the way a meter is now defined in terms of how far light travels in a certain time. This is an interesting concept to expolre for a sound/animation piece, because it links together space and time. Sound varies in how fast it travels so it wouldn't work as a constant definition. Maybe I could expolre that sound is not as constant in speed as light.

In 1790 one metre was measured by the length of a pendulum which took one second to swing. This was because they wanted a more standard unit of measurement because there was so much local variation.

In 1791 they decided a better measurement for the metre is a ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the north pole.

In 1889 at the first General Conference on Weights and Measures they made a standard bar from platinum that measured exactly one metre at the melting point of ice. (this remeined the standard till 1960)

A metre is now defined as the distance travelled by light in absolute vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second. This is a more standard definition because light travels at the same speed everywhere.

One square metre reminds me of buying floor coverings like carpet or tiles by the square metre.

One square metre reminds me of square dancing, where people dance in a square pattern, and change partners, I think it is like a barn-dance type of dance.

One square metre makes me think of people locked up in detention centres, like refugees or political captives. In a tiny space people go crazy and are locked up against their will, often never knowing if or when they'll be released. Maybe I could explore a person who flees for their life to Australia, and gets locked in a detention centre where they don't speak the language and don't know when they'll ever get let out or sent back. And all the things they think about in the tiny overcrowded detention centre. Or maybe a political prisioner detained suspected of being a terrorist, but not having any rights. I could make a soundscape of being trapped in jail or detention.

One square meter makes me think of queing, like at the supermarket or bank, when people feel like they are closer than my personal space. And even though the people are standing so close to eachother, they hardly ever talk to eachother. I could record conversations that people have while waiting in a que. It could explore the way in modern life there are people all around us, standing very close, living next-door, but we can feel lonely, and never even talk to the person standing in a que with us. Like the isolation of modern life, or the strange conversations people have with strangers on the bus. Or overheard conversations that people say on the bus, but that are quite interesting stories that they are telling on the bus and everyone can hear, even though it is a private converstation.

posted by nicole @ 10:44 pm