Chronosydra

​about. a 10' tall hourglass that ran in reverse. This project was designed and lead by Kate Greenberg. A team of 10+ volunteers made this piece possible, notably including work by Jay Austin, Luke Semo, and Malcom McFarland. 

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Inspired by Greek water clocks klepsydra |  Chronos (of Time) + Hydra (of Water)  

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Chronosydra was an abstract city clock created to time the week of the 2016 Burning Man event. Like a meter that measures the growing creativity and energy around it, this hourglass filled steadily over the length of the event and stood full at exodus; full like an hourglass that had just been turned over, full like time itself had been turned back. An art piece that mirrored the week-long transformation of Black Rock City, and playfully reflected on the way in which our time at Burning Man may reset, revivify, and refill us if we let it.

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The steel and wood frame of the sculpture supported an 8'-0" tall acrylic hourglass that had a top and bottom chamber separated by an aperture. The bottom chamber was be filled with recycled HDPE pellets. And with the first sunrise of Burning Man the entire hourglass was filled with water. Because the plastic pellets were less dense than the water, they floated from the bottom to the top chamber. The hourglass was calibrated to run for 7 days by regulating the size of the aperture and the number of pellets within the system.