Equivalence

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Created as part of the final major project for my photography degree at University of West of England, Equivalence is an exploration of an element of the forces that act upon us everyday without us even noticing. The premise of this film is an attempt to take a piece of land from a location on one latitude to a location on another, more southerly, latitude then transport it along that latitude against the direction of the rotation of the Earth. It is transported at a speed that counteracts the greater inherent speed of its new latitude - at a speed equivalent to the speed it would have travelled constantly at its point of origin.

The original inspiration for this piece came from the idea that while we are alive we have the free will and ability to counteract and deviate from the pre-destined path that the Earth's rotation would take us on, but that once we are dead and buried we are trapped on the route the Earth's movement determines.

I see this piece as a conceptual artwork combining performance and land art. At its first exhibition it was displayed alongside the piece of turf used in the film.

Please note that this film is best viewed in HD directly on Vimeo - https://vimeo.com/debwooartist/equivalence

The greater inherent speed of travel at the more southerly latitude used here, is due to the greater circumference of the Earth along this line compared to the turf's original (more northerly) latitude. The greater the circumference of the Earth (which it at its maximum at the equator), the greater the distance travelled on each of the Earth's axial rotations. Therefore, the faster all the points along this latitudinal line have to travel.

The difference in speed between the two latitudes used in the film, which are only 14 miles apart, is 2.9mph.

Chepstow = 645.3 mph
UWE Bower Ashton = 648.2 mph (+2.9mph compared to Chepstow)