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On the Measure of the Earth

On the measure of the Earth, neon, steel, neon transformers, dimensions variabel, 2022, photo: Kunstraum Memphis/​Jakob Dietrich

Already in the Classical Antiquity the spherical shape of the earth was known and spread. Plato and Aristotle, for example, established the first theories concerning the curvature of the earth by observing the round shadow of the earth during a lunar eclipse. In 240 B.C., the scientist Eratosthenes succeeded in making an astonishingly accurate calculation of the circumference of the Earth by observing and measuring shadow casts and angles.
The work On the Measure of the Earth takes up this calculation and its historical significance and translates forms of light incidence and shadow formation as well as mathematical measuring methods into an independent light installation.