In keeping with the spirit of quantifying time, we revisit our interview with David Adey who created “Omega Man,” a trillion second countdown to zero.
Created using Nixie tubes, the standard technology before the classic alarm clock, the design features a pre-segmented LED display that seeks to visualize one trillion seconds.
In an interview with A. Moret, the artist explains that “time is a relative concept, and with “Omega Man” I was thinking about a trillion. After researching the number I realized that one trillion seconds is 31,688 years and this fact blew me away. I thought a trillion seconds was about a month or so. I had no concept of what a trillion actually was. Then I started thinking about what was happening 32,000 years ago. At that time the last known Neanderthals were walking around the plains of Europe and Homo sapiens were on the rise. We are talking about the dawn of civilization.”
From the archives, “David Adey: Hither and Yon,” featured in Issue 40 from the weekly installments of Installation Magazine
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David Adey, “Omega Man” (Trillion Second Countdown) (detail), Russian-suplus nixie tubes, GPS receivers, custom electronics, 2.5″ x 9.125″, 2013
Artwork courtesy of the artist
