Timegardens employ growth algorithms to create dynamic gardens stretching or compressing their life spans to fit significant temporal events in the real world. Using fractal geometry and 3D animation, Timegardens grow and decay to any desired temporal specifications; they are virtual landscapes that emerge, reach their zeniths, and ultimately die in public spaces where the audience is pressed by issues of time, scheduling and pace. The sounds emitted by Timegardens are gentle pulsations, like the rhythmic beat of a heart or a clock. These audio pulses also utilize a consistent algorithm, tuned to fit a determined time span. Timegardens reverse the conditions of the natural, subjecting it to a cultural or personal time line rather than the reverse.
Timegarden 02 is a recent update, created for the 2006 Margaret Mead Film Festival at the Museum of Natural History in New York. In this particular one-hour Timegarden, the camera revolves 360º, like a clock, positioned in the woods outside a circular walled garden. Four time spans are represented simultaneously: flowerbeds cycle from spring to fall; trees cycle from winter to winter, and the dome of the sky moves from dawn to dusk. The cycles are seamlessly looped, repeating hourly.
Sound: Kurt Hentschlager