24hrs: Initial thoughts and ideas

Exploring the theme of 24 hours I decided to look into the use of the word ephemera, which derives from Greek to mean things lasting no more than a day.

This and the everyday paraphernalia, this being equipment, apparatus, or furnishing used in or necessary for a particular activity.

Travel is a common usage done daily, whether it is walking, taking the car, bus, train, tram or even cycling. I decided to look into the type and marks found on train and bus tickets since I only really use these means of transport. I came across a few ideas initially.

Thinking slightly bigger I thought about the sun and how the earth spins around the sun in a cycle of 24 hrs.

Contemplating on the word ephemera I thought of living things that really only survive a day. Whether its a human being surviving to live a disease or the impact someone can have as their day develops.

It was intresting to know that the Mayfly can live only one day and the transitional processes it takes to survive its species.

It was also interesting to see the world's air traffic in a 24 hour period, it somehow reminded me of the Mayfly.

Here is another of the deliveries for the American company FedEx.

Each yellow dot represents an aeroplane. What was really interesting is the shadows on the earth as it spins on its axis and the way the light of the day is shifting from east to west. It almost reflect what Bill Viola’s idea on dualism and duplexity - light and dark, loud and soft etc. The daylight pattern move on the earth’s surface would be due to the earth’s tilt, so you can see the summer time in the North by the sun’s shadow and that it didn't quite set in the extreme north and that it did not quite rise in the extreme south, resulting in the cause of summer and winter in the different regions.

You can also see the flow of traffic and how it changes throughout the course of the day, so air traffic leaving the UK in the morning and flying to the American continent in daylight and vice versa the North American airlines travelling at night to arrive in the UK in the morning.

Alternatively when you watch this from day to night the day begins in Australia and start a similar pattern.