Tracking time with sunpendulum

Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, inaugurated the Sunpendulum Time Eye of Dubai at Zayed University yesterday.

The Sunpendulum project, which was created and directed by Austrian media artist Hofstetter Kurt, began in 1997.

When completed it will consist of 12 video cameras (or "time eyes"), located in 12 time zones around the earth, each directed toward the eastern sky and feeding simultaneous images via the Internet to a pavilion.

The pavilion will include 12 screens arranged in a circle, each one showing a live image from one of the cameras. With the rotation of the earth, sunlight will move within the circle of the screens.

A sunclock, or "Sunpendulum," is the final result. Zayed University is the site of the eighth Time Eye.

The entire Time Eye system, which consists of a PC with software and a special video camera inside a weatherproof case, is connected to the university's Internet network and power grid for permanent use.

The project uses a computer with customised software that will capture images from a camera, convert the pictures into digital format, and then broadcast the images to the central receiving station via the Internet. The images will be available on the Internet 24 hours a day permanently.

The inaugural ceremony, which was held in the auditorium of Zayed University's Dubai campus, was also attended by Nikolaus Seiwald, Commercial Counsellor of the Embassy of Austria, Dr. Hanif Hassan, Vice President of Zayed University, Zayed University Provost Dr. Dell Felder, and numerous other representatives from Zayed University, the diplomatic community and the private sector.

Due to the importance of maintaining continuous image streams from the 12 video cameras into the central pavilion via the Internet, the Institute of Computer Graphics and Algorithms at the Vienna University of Technology developed special Sunpendulum software.

The scientific goal of the Sunpendulum project is to develop and evaluate the software, which provides a special real-time data compression that allows continuous transfer of a live video image stream.

It also has to have a synchronisation of the images for display in the pavilion, which has to compensate for Internet delays. Special image processing algorithms and a flexible system which can be easily installed and remotely maintained is also included.

During the installation the Sunpendulum Time Eye of Dubai, a group of students from the Department of Art and Design, in the College of Arts and Sciences, accompanied artist Barbara Doser during part of her film documentation of the project. These Art and Design majors are enrolled in the Digital Video course.

The Sunpendulum gives the university the distinction of having a major outdoor artwork on site. It is also a unique opportunity for the art students on the campus to gain a greater understanding of the role that technology has in the contemporary art world.