P A C E Investigations No.6
In the 1850’s The Waltham Watch Company developed machinery that produced interchangeable parts. This influenced the mass production of timepieces on a global scale and consequently privileged a shared time consciousness still felt today. P A C E Investigations No. 6 was a yearlong performance artwork that explored Waltham's historic role in the mass synchronization of mechanical time, considered pre-colonial understandings of time buried by industrialization, and proposed ways time might be measured in the future. Beginning on the 2017 Autumnal equinox, P A C E Investigations No. 6 repeated at dawn and dusk on the equinoxes and solstices for one year. Sited on a public pathway nestled between the historic Waltham Watch Factory building and Mount Feake cemetery in Waltham, MA, the actions and materials of the performance were site-specific. The duration of the performance adapted to changes in sunrise and sunset times from season to season.
As time constricts and expands, the performance must shift. Some actions that make up the performance speed up or slow down. Others merge to become different actions all together. Some are abandoned, while others gain significance. Regardless of how the performance adapts, the tension between mechanical, cyclical, and felt time becomes palpable.
