I. simulation

The installation simulates the physical existence of a sphere of 5 m diametre. The sphere consists of steel, weighs 1809,29 tons and is shot from the exhibition place into an orbit of 1,5 metres height. The 100 centimetres that literally scratch the earth's surface cause a continuous spread of vibrations over its crust. The sphere's average speed of 600 km/h allows it to orbit the globe and come back to the launching place in 66,793 hours.

Exhibition places are observation points in the Sphere network. Further observation points are created when a participant asks the Sphere server for registration over the internet. If he transmits his own longitude/latitude over the downloadable Sphere software a new observation point is installed.

launch

Every participant can initialize his personal sphere and launch it onto an orbit towards another observation point of his choice. The software reconstructs the respective person’s sphere autonomously tracking data on his local computer and on the internet that contains information about him and his location. It uses all online resources available (search engines, geographic localization strategies, name analysis and other cultural classing techniques). Participating institutions as well as single users can feed the program with information about themselves and their place. The information is synthesized into a message and may be edited if requested before the sphere is launched.

sphere message

The message is received and displayed by the computers of all participants and exhibition places that are crossed by an orbiting sphere. While the software is running residently on a computer and the participant logs into the server once a day, he takes part in all Sphere flights and is connected to all other participants.

manipulation

observation points and exhibition places are gravitational centres that influence the course of a sphere. An entry on the sensitive world map causes a ballistic manipulation of its flight vectors. All registered participants and exhibition places can influence the orbit which therefore remains unpredictible. Spheres optimize their course in order to fly over as many participants as possible without exceeding a limited delay before they return to their origin

Sphere