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At Brandenburg, “Immobilised” 1999, silver (Stirling 925), crystal, iron, height 120 cm A while ago a straightforward method for calculating the distance to the moon and the stars popped into my head. All you need is the edge of a roof, some two metres above your head, on which you place two clothes pegs which should be as far apart as the distance between the tip of your index finger and its knuckle held horizontally before your eyes at a distance of 30cm projected on the edge of the roof you are using. Now pick a celestial body and choose a reference point, along the line from your pupil to the celestial body, which should be at least three metres higher up than your roof edge. Perhaps there’s still an old television aerial around which you could use for this purpose. Bring your index finger into yardstick position and mark the spot where the straight line between your pupil and your reference point and your index finger intersect. (I would advise you to set this experiment up in such a manner as to end up at the crease between the first and second digits of your finger.) Move your head to one side, freeze and use your index finger to measure how far the clothes pegs, your reference point and the celestial body of your choice have shifted relative to your marker crease. You will appreciate the importance of performing these measurements as accurately as possible. At this point it couldn’t be easier to calculate the distance to the celestial body, as this is the only unknown quantity left in the equation. The principle remains true even if your head is too wobbly or your hand too shaky to actually perform the measurements to an acceptable level of accuracy. So, where did all of the above come from? There’s a very odd sculpture in the gallery by At Brandenburg (see adjacent picture). Give the pendulum a slight push and within 60 seconds you will see the straight oscillation change into an oval, then assume a circular motion which, as Foucault has taught us, is proof positive of the earth’s rotation. For all its stunning simplicity, I consider this to be an extraordinarily intriguing phenomenon. It gives me the secure feeling that part of the universe at least is not unfathomable, and it was this confidence which sparked the devil-may-care mood which culminated in my primitive distance measurement method. Ah, the versatility of contemporary silver …! |