RBG Time
Great stories measure time.
Great people outlive time.
see the code
Description
The RBG clock is my way of remembering the feminist icon. I see stories
as the fabric of time, without which time retracts to an abstract
measure with no meaning. Stories are usually embedded in time, and the
novelty of this clock to me is seeing a story as time itself.
The story looping on the RGB clock is her famous Supreme Court Justice
Nomination Acceptance Address in 1993. President Clinton's nomination
marks an important milestone of her career, which is why I chose to
embed this particular story in time.
Every second, one word in her
speech appears on the clock, and the frame color changes. The former is
attuned with a frame rate of 1 fps, the latter change is controlled by
the millis() function. I wanted to visualize the synchrony and
discrepancy in these two ways the program tracks a passing second. One
minute is represented by 60 words, which is the constant number of words
on the clock interface at any given time.
The radiating blue
accentuates her gesture in the background, which looks as if she's
mesmerizing the reader with the magic of her words. This effect is
stronger when you speed up time on the slider. I chose blue because it's
her favorite color and it represents justice.
Design Process
LEFT: My fist idea is to unify the universalized time with our
internal circadian rhythm. Research shows that our metabolic processes
are timed to function on specific intervals. In the sketch, I wish to
highlight the organ/hormone which is most active in regulation during
each interval of time in a day.
I realized that my imagination was still confined in the binary of
external and internal time, even though I attempt to unify the two in
one clock. In addition, many of the regulation period of our organs
overlap, and most intervals cover many hours. Which are the reasons
why I did not puruse this idea.
RIGHT: My final sketch was developed from this simple concept that time can be embedded in stories. I imagined that every passing second is represetned by a word. After enough time has elapsed, a meaningful story emerges on the clock.
Reflection
Through this project, I learned that time is not just binary as in internal or external, it can also be measured by external stories that we often internalize. What gives me a visceral feeling of the passing time is the stories that I know. In my past live the stories that shaped my understanding of today, and in the present the story I internalize will shape my beliefs tomorrow. Over the past weekend, the story I want to imprint in time is the story of RGB, a heroine whom I only came to know after her passing. I want to dedicate this piece to a tireless advocate of gender equality, whose monumetal impact on the legal system will last long after she is gone.
Image credit: Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Lorie Shaull from the Noun Project
Speech transcript:
1993 Supreme Court Justice Nomination Acceptance Address