view from Room B11, UIC,Chicago

two 26 x 32 ” black and white Xerox copies
black paper binders
often arranged with digital clocks and a wood box with texts

exhibited at:
Chicago, UIC/Wood Street Gallery (2000/2001)
Stockholm Konstakademien (2003)

“I only use numbers because it is a way of writing without describing… I choose numbers because they are so steady, limited, artificial. The only thing that has ever been created is the number. A number of something (two chairs or whatever) is some-thing else. It’s not pure number, and has other meanings. Hanne Darboven in L. Lippard”
Hanne Darboven: Deep in Numbers, “Artforum XII/2 (October 1973): 35-36.

a typical digital clock display with numbers

Performance with time
This type of conceptual work, was the offspring of several months of hard work and attention into register clock numbers on small papers fragments available. The work itself was tested in a smaller version (Double Sequence), but even though that version seemed to establish some sense of energetic physicality and concentration I needed a larger amount of data and psychological performance time. The hardcore attitude for this work was also more interesting than physical attributes which was with the Double Sequence. The period of registration ended after 1 year and 2 months. I ended it not after one year, but with 2 months extra, since the piece was not about the year itself but about the causality in the numbers. The last 4 months was really hard since its was difficult to do other things at the same time, it even made it difficult to act normal in social situations.

detail of the xerox document with numbers (ordered)

Researching the super conscious
During the registration period of the data, it became quite clear that the motivation and orientation of the piece itself was for my interests in causal levels of the mind and consciousness. As our body and mind are expanding out in the world, the limit were we can say that our interference with the world is bound to a limit seemed to be old-fashioned and static. Because of the experience I had with the rhythm and coordination of my body and consciousness in time I could not escape the character of something extraordinary subtle and powerful that was configuring every moment in time as the days and actions went on. I couldn’t describe it better than something that connects to the exterior world and the self in a more pristine way, something that one would call a causal realm of super consciousness.

Presentation of the data
The two sheets present the same numbers, but they have different order. One is chronologically and the other one is sorted. The clock numbers are registered for the most part in European 24 hour time. Others appear in American format, but since I was interested in the data more than the narrative part of it, I sorted those among the 24 clock times in terms of my interest in them as raw numbers. The presentation was directed towards a typical office look: Times New Roman font face, ordinary clips and Xerox copies.

Philosophical orientation and theoretical implications
With this piece I wrote a short philosophical text. The orientation in the text was dealing with cause and effect, the meaning of the number and the super consciousness. The text was some sort of first orientation toward some of the implication of the registration-performance and the self relating to the data.

with images added afterwards from the B11 installation pdf  >>>>>>>>
with images added afterwards from the Wood street Gallery pdf >>>>>>>

html version >>> 

view from Room B11, UIC,Chicago

view from Wood Street Gallery, Chicago