An alternative to the sun

A closeup of a brightly coloured screen, with a pattern of overlapping coloured rectangles, forming a gradient that flows from one colour to another.

When you live with the sun for a longer time, you can tell the time, and the seasons, by looking at it. Maybe it doesn’t give you the exact time, but when you live with the sun, you don’t need the exact time. Around noon is good enough. This digital alternative to the sun is similar. When you live with this alternative to the sun for a while, you start recognise its patterns, and these patterns start telling you what time it is.

23 images of a brightly lit screen, all with a slightly different pattern than the other images. Some clearly are darker, and others clearly lighter.

The gradient changes slowly. This gradient shows you the hour of the day. At 9 it starts and ends with a different colour than at 10. The patterns will tell you the minutes. At seven past nine you’ll see the same patterns as at seven past 10, just with different colours. If you study this alternative to the sun long enough, you’ll be able to tell the time pretty accurately. The pattern changes so slow that you cannot see it moving. Yet when you look at it just a bit later you’ll see that it did change.

At night the clock is darker.

Twelve images of a brightly lit, wide screen, all with the same pattern and the same colours on it, but they all have a slightly different saturation.

The intensity of the original sun changes during the year. Bright in summer, milder in winter. This alternative to the sun changes the saturation of its colours throughout the year. In summer the colours are much more saturated than in winter. So while the alternative to the sun seems to be the same, every day, it’s always different.

The backside, looking at it from above. The curves are visible. A closeup of the the back of the alternative to the sun, zoomed in on the pattern of different strokes of cardboard. The backside of the alternative to the sun.

The alternative sun has a custom made backside. It’s built from strokes of 2mm black cardboard, cut with a laser cutter, glued together by hand. Up close you can clearly see the repeating pattern from which the curves are constructed. From a distance is simply looks like a practical case. Which is fine, it’s the backside.

The alternative to the sun, seen from the side. The curve and the glued layers are in focus. A closeup of the the back of the alternative to the sun, zoomed in on the pattern of different strokes of cardboard, looking at it from aside. An alternative sun, hanging on a red wall, with a red phone below it.

I make these alternatives to the sun to order. They will cost somewhere around four to five times the value of the hardware. If you want one of these suns, or if you have any questions or comments, pick up the phone and dial my number send me an email. Don’t worry, I really like getting these kinds of emails.