From measuring lights to light as a measurement

2012 / Negatives and tape measure on light box / 125x100x30 cm

The idea for a universal and invariable unit of length — the metre — emerged following the French Revolution, based on Enlightenment-era thinking. This unit, in its little over two centuries of existence, has already had four different definitions. In this piece, via a photographic experiment, I try to show the possible invalidity of the current definition of the metre, because after two centuries and numerous changes in its description, this unit (which is now defined by how far light travels in a set time) might well have changed once again.