"Everyone in Rome remembered the day the sundial came to town. Pointing to a spot by the rostrum on which he stood, Valerius (263BCE) revealed bthe sundial he had brought back from Sicily and mounted on a column that bore his name.[…]
The sundial from Catania was joined by dozens more across Rome, each designed to regulate and control the myriad daily activities of Rome’s citizens—who quickly became uneasy at the intrusion of this new timekeeping technology. Things eventually got so bad that sundials became a target for the city’s playwrights and critics.[…]
We should think of the sundial in the Roman Forum as the city’s first clock tower. Mounted up high, looking over the people, and standing for Rome’s ruling classes themselves, it changed everything. From the moment Valerius revealed his sundial at the Forum, Romans were forced to live their lives by the clock. And this new temporal order was sweeping civilizations across the world."
(About Time - David Rooney)

Set-Rise-Sun is a mixed-media installation that explores the interplay between technology, time and the environment.
The piece is made of a modified Lcd screen perpendicular to a water surface within a natural environmental setting. Through this arrangement, viewers can observe an evolving virtual Sun that progresses from the top to the bottom of the screen. 

To the naked eye, the screen emits only white light. As the polarized film on the Lcd has been removed, the content is only visible through the reflection on the water that acts as a natural polarizing filter due to Brewster's angle phenomenon.
The prevailing Western cultural norms have often viewed time as a resource to be won and defended, marked by a linear progression, a craving for rapid results, and a feeling of haste.
Such an endeavor to dominate time has historically been an example of how humans have attempted to exert their control over nature and over them.
The work prompts the observer to contemplate the intricacies of our present situation, grappling with the socio-environmental challenges we confront. It encourages us to ponder the ramifications of our increased reliance on technology and the possible outcomes that may arise from distancing ourselves from the natural world.

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