“Sun of the City” is an ongoing project that uses existing structures in urban space to make functioning sundials on building walls. The sixth iteration was realized at 18th Street Arts Center, an artist-in-residence organization in Santa Monica, Los Angeles.
On the south-east facing exterior wall, a light fixture originally installed to illuminate the parking lot serves as the gnomon, the hand of the sundial. The dimensions, angles and relative positions of the wall and the fixture were surveyed and combined with the latitude and longitude of the site to calculate the compass-like dial drawn on the wall. The fixture was slightly tilted due to age, and this inclination was incorporated as it was when designing the dial. If a future earthquake or structural change alters this angle, the dial will no longer tell the correct time. The exterior wall is reportedly repainted roughly once every ten years, and the most recent repainting had just been completed before the project, so the work is expected to remain visible in its current form for the time being.
During the painting, a rented boom lift was also used to harvest avocados from a tree growing on the grounds of 18th Street Arts Center. The avocados were distributed to visitors at the opening.
Wall size: approx. 500 x 700 cm
Support: 18th Street Arts Center, Tokyo Arts and Space, Sam Francis Foundation