Saltwatch

(2007) by Elvira Finnigan
begins June 30th, 2007

Bookmark this website and for the next year and a half and you will be able to watch ever-changing images of crystal formations transforming objects which have been immersed in a dense salt brine.

On June 30th, the blue moon (the second full moon in June), Saltwatch: Time Lapse 1 begins. This is the first of the seven Saltwatch: Time Lapse cycles. A web camera will track the progress of evaporation over a book immersed in salt brine in a large white ceramic bowl and upload a new image every seven minutes until all chemical action ceases.

You will witness salt crystals form and swirl on the surface, create patterns, break apart and finally settle in a crystalline coating that changes and hides the objects and surfaces it touches. Environmental conditions – including temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and perhaps the pull of the moon – affect the timing and formation of the crystallization patterns. At certain crucial moments the images seem to echo the formation of new constellations.

At the end of the cycle, a photo archive will be posted in the website archive. Watch for it and the blog updates of impending dramatic changes in the evaporation cycle.

Saltwatch: Time Lapse Series is the second phase of Saltwatch Experiments (2006).

Elvira Finnigan, June 2007

Schedule (subject to change)

1. Time Lapse 1 - starts June 30, 2007 (full “blue” moon)
2. Time Lapse 2 - scheduled to begin September 11, 2007 (new moon)
3. Time Lapse 3 - scheduled to begin November 24, 2007 (full moon)
4. Time Lapse 4 - scheduled to begin February 7, 2008 (new moon)
5. Time Lapse 5 - scheduled to begin April 20, 2008 (full moon)
6. Time Lapse 6 - scheduled to begin July 3, 2008 (new moon)
7. Time Lapse 7 - scheduled to begin September 15, 2008 (full moon)