I’ve been performing more and more improv based material, and am always looking for ways to make it a more immersive experience for the audience. For the most part, I normally perform pieces that are around 25-30 minutes long, and I’m looking for some kind of natural time device that the audience and I can both see, and that’s cooler than just a timer on my phone.
I was inspired by seeing Anthony Braxton—his Ghost Trance pieces were typically an hour, and he would always start the set by turning over a gigantic sand hour glass! I also really like @marcus_fischer 's use of a levitating tape reel----not necessarily a time keeper, but definitely an object that can help bring about a trance if you look at it long enough.
Does anyone know of any cool esoteric time keepers?
I’ve seen some performances synchronized to the sunrise / sunset by just starting at the right time and letting the light dictate the end. That’s a cool effect.
A friend of mine used to tour on a set he’d always play by candlelight, I thought it would be cool if there were fast-burning enough candle that he could use a new one for each show, and the set would be over when the candle burned itself out.
A candle clock could be easily transformed into a timer by sticking a heavy nail into the candle at the mark indicating the desired interval. When the wax surrounding the nail melts, the nail clatters onto a plate below.
Eggs about to hatch, time-lapse photography, ISS orbit, a resurrection plant coming “back to life”, circadian rhythms, heartbeats, water clocks, incense clocks, oil lamp clocks, parking meters
You can count the clicks of a Geiger counter, along the lines of Giorgio Sancristoforo’s Radioaktivnost sequencer which uses a USB (or simulated) Geiger counter to advance its clock.
