How did this start?

If you prefer to listen the blog post is read below

So what is behind this project?

Have a look at the timelapse video above. It is shot from my office window.

I didn’t really notice these clouds in real-time. They move so slowly. But my jaw dropped when I set up a small camera, recording a timelapse, suckered to the window all day. And it led to realisations…

I had the idea that if I couldn’t leave the house much, I’d make my living space full of outside-world explorations, in whatever way I could. It started with these timelapses of the clouds.

Looking at the video, I could convince myself that I wasn’t shackled to the ground. The clouds were removed of context and would even remind me of images that were shot from space. A series of thoughts followed. What if I could turn this room, where I make such images in my house, into a kind of ‘art-based space station’, even a metaphorical one?

What experiments could I conduct with really poor energy if any? Could I use everyday technology to help? My mind struggled with maths and science experiments, besides, I trained as a filmmaker and artist so I’m talking about a cultural, observational stationary space station.

If I couldn’t change my circumstances, could I change my perspective?

What did I have around me? An iPad, microphones, cameras, smartphones and an internet connection. I started hanging microphones out the window and leaving them recording all day. I hung the iPad on the wall and set it to a webcam of a remote Swedish lake which I let run for a month (that’s another story).

Meanwhile, I re-attached the time-lapse camera to the window and set it recording again.

I was on a roll. How else could I bring the outside in?

I bought an aquarium and placed it next to my couch and stocked it with real plants and guppies. I ordered a cheap weather station with an outside sensor so that I could get a sense of changing wind speed and temperature outside and it also showed me the phases of the moon.

And in the middle of all this connection with the outside world I put together the three experiments you see on this site.