ON PERCEIVING NANOSCALE TIME IN THE MOVING IMAGE

2024 – 2025
software | moving image installation

with: Carbon Group & Curtin HIVE (Hub for Immersive Visualisation)
unity developer: Michael Wiebrands

Because the human mind evolved to perceive time based on the comparatively slow movement of human scale objects, the devastatingly fast movements of nanoscale phenomena make them difficult to temporally perceive and comprehend.

Small molecules, for example, water (H2O) vibrate around 100 trillion times a second. If we had a one second video of this motion, and it was played back in slow motion at a perceivable limit of 10 vibrations per second, it would take 347 856 years to watch.

The tools of film, video and game engines lend themselves to unique explorations of nanoscale time, motion and space.

We have developed a custom tool for the manipulation of time in computational simulations in relation to live action footage. This tool is being used and assessed via the production of an immersive moving image installation and VR experience.