Provided your dwelling is structurally sound and you are not placed in the face of immediate danger, getting caught in an earthquake may be one of the more surreal experiences you can have. Having grown up in Sydney relatively free from earthquakes, or natural disasters in general, the moment when the first foreshock from last year’s Kumamoto earthquake in Japan struck (one month into my exchange!) resulted in a resounding ‘Far out’. Seconds before anything happens, your iPhone blares a klaxon (thank you, government warning systems), and then the ground is putty.
In reality, the earth’s tectonic plates grumble and clash with each other millions of times a year. Most are too weak to be recorded by seismographs
or felt by the average person. What reaches institutions such as America’s National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) however, are no small number either, averaging 20 000 recorded earthquakes on a yearly basis. The ‘solid’ ground we stand on is volatile and perpetually evolving; and though we witness its raw power every now and then, it can be difficult to comprehend its scale and ubiquity from afar.
or felt by the average person. What reaches institutions such as America’s National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) however, are no small number either, averaging 20 000 recorded earthquakes on a yearly basis. The ‘solid’ ground we stand on is volatile and perpetually evolving; and though we witness its raw power every now and then, it can be difficult to comprehend its scale and ubiquity from afar.
Countdown: A History of Earthquakes, 1965-2016 aims for audiences to experience the Earth’s recorded seismic history on a spatial and temporal level. Standing inside the 360° screen of the UTS Data Arena, earthquakes are mapped on a longitudinal clock, year by year, granting an omniscient perspective as if one were at the centre of the globe. Countdown is intended to be experienced as a performance, and in doing so aims to present patterns that may not be visible in smaller-scale visualisations, turning coordinates into mapped space, and scales of seismic energy into visual gravitas– a reminder that we are part of a more complex natural system as we countdown to today.
