Ruth West - Time^n = Inspiration^2

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Timen = Inspiration2

timeⁿ = inspiration ²explores the relationship between time and money, the selling of human time for money through labor, and the alternative - purchasing time in continuous or asynchronos multiple dimensions. It is an online experience where individuals create an alternate identity and go on a shopping spree for time.

The system creates a price for multidimensional time based on the economic characteristics of the avatar identity. The collective activity of all avatar identities over time drives the price up or down for the various asynchronous time products, so the individual affects the whole and vice versa. Ultimately time ⁿ = inspiration ² asks the questions: "What are we willing to pay to acquire multidimensional time or consciousness?" and "Is this something we want?" Launch timeⁿ = inspiration ²


Feel like you need more time sometimes? Ever thought what it would be like to buy time? Well, now you can. timeⁿ = inspiration ²is an online experience where people can buy time- with a twist. You can shop for time to add to your continuum or take a leap into multiple parallel experiences of time. You can choose from items like "if only" time that allows you to go back and do all the things you would have if you only could have.... while you are also here in the present. You can also simply add an Nth hour to your day, or purchase immortality. Take your pick... and we'll give you a special price all your own. Then with the speed of e-mail we'll send your Inspiration particles to you in a handy titanium vessel.
Our social and economic structures require that we sell our time in order to buy time for our life. Shopping for time confronts us with how we value time, what it would feel like to be a human being that is no longer time-limited, and with the socioeconomic norms that equate time with money. The time^n = inspiration^2 experience allows people to choose how to acquire time. They have two choices: the "old-fashioned" way by consuming human-extensions such as the timesaving devices currently available on the market or the "new and improved" way by consuming asynchronous time. When you choose to save time through consumerism you are acquiring one dimensional time (t1). When acquiring asynchronous time you are consuming multidimensional time (tn). We offer both experiences online. Since your shopping spree for time is uniquely tailored to the alter ego that you create, you can return several times and ponder these questions as various identities, with differing opportunity costs associated with each life. Opportunity cost is an economic concept that directly equates time to money in human terms. We usually do not think about this, but each of us is used in these kinds of calculations that express the value of our life's time as a cost per hour. We are also asking you to imagine what it would be like if you could hold your consciousness in various dimensions at once. Is this something that enhances our human experience? Do we even want this? Would it be worth it to us no matter what the price or is there a point where more time and parallel experiences is not worth paying for? What if you had unlimited financial resources and could buy immortality, is this truly appealing? What would be the ramifications for the human psyche? Technical Specs: HTML Javascript, CGI, Photoshop, Illustrator

Ruth West

An interdisciplinary artist-researcher working with digital media and interactive technologies.