24 Cyanotypes, Video Projection
7′ x 7′
2012-3
In 1840, The Great Western Railway implemented one specific standard time in a way to synchronize numerous local times. Up until this point, time had been a local matter, tied to observations of the sun in any given place. This change, which was adopted in the US in the late 1800s, shifted the basic understanding of time itself. In Standard Time, Berlier references this historic shift. She has represented the hours of the day with 24 subtly varied cyanotypes—a photographic print that uses the sun to process the image. Configured in a large circle on the wall that may suggest a clock or the sun or the globe, the prints reflect the monumental power of time in our lives while the ceaseless spinning of the train reflect its unyielding nature.
