Artwork Torture Box (145,071 kms in 1:21:03 @ 1676 km/min)

The title of this durational video work is taken from a scene in Frank Herbert’s 1965 epic “Dune”, considered by some to be the greatest science fiction novel of all time. The Queen of Atreides must determine if her son Paul, heir to the House of Atreides and thus control of planet Arrakis, is worthy of the responsibility. She produces a “torture box” which, Paul discovers upon setting his hand inside, creates an environment of exquisite pain as a test of his faith and resolve.
My own torture box also creates an environment of pain using the concentrated rays of our sun. Focused through a magnifying lens, this disc of hot light slowly makes its way across the width of my palm, taking 1 hour, 21 minutes, and 3 seconds. In this time, the earth has traveled 145,071 kilometers around the sun, rotating at 1676 kilometers per hour. The unremarkable daily journey of our movement made manifest.