One of a Billion Days

2015
Manuel Abendroth, Jerome Decock, Els Vermang
 

Measures: variable
 

Technique: computer generated prints, 216 black A4 frames, light object, generative software

 

 

One of a Billion Days visualizes possible combinations of an alphanumeric display consisting of 10 characters. Each character is based on 16 segments and two points and as such has 2e18 (or 262 144) unique combinations possible. A 10 character display has 2e180 (or 1532495540865888858358347027150309183618739122183602176) unique combinations possible. If each 10 seconds a unique combination is displayed than 8640 combinations can be shown during one day of 24 hours. Based on this calculation it would take billions of days to display all unique combinations. One of a Billion Days shows an infinite small extract of this infinity. The artwork demonstrates how a simple construct, the combination of 18 elements, can create closely infinite variations and puts it in relation to time and information.