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Innovative Installation Casts Shadows Like a Sundial to Create Moving Messages

typographical street art daku

The clever art installation Time Changes Everything, is an innovative twist on mural art. Instead of paint, Indian artist Daku manipulated the sun's rays to create this ever-changing artwork. By cutting letters from thin sheets of metal and drilling them to the building at precise angles, over 70 words are cast along its facade.

As part of the St.Art festival, which curates public art in Delhi's Lodhi district, Daku's carefully realized installation demonstrates the power of words. The artist, whose name means “bandit” in Hindi, had been thinking about executing this project for several years when finally given the opportunity by the festival.

Precise technical planning was a necessity to ensure that the words he broadcast across the building facade would translate. “I had to decide the size of the letters, the length of the pieces, and the angle I could place them in so pedestrians could easily see it,” the anonymous artist told CNN. Essentially acting as a sundial, the letters move throughout the course of the day, making the play of light and shadow fundamental to the artwork.

innovative graffiti daku

Essentially acting as a sundial, the letters move throughout the course of the day, making the play of light and shadow fundamental to the artwork. Black on white, the words appear with stunning clarity, and simplicity, as they cycle through the day.

The artist carefully selected which words to include—balance, order, reflection, future, seasons, space—each a reflection on movement, time, and change. Reaching its apex at mid-day, the letters slowly blur and dissolve, put to rest each evening before beginning anew.

This public art installation uses letters as sundials that cast words that change position throughout the day.

sundial graffiti daku india

typographical street art daku

innovative graffiti daku

DAKU: WebsiteInstagram
h/t: [Lustik, CNN]

All images via Pranav Gohil.

Jessica Stewart

Jessica Stewart is a Contributing Writer and Digital Media Specialist for My Modern Met, as well as a curator and art historian. Since 2020, she is also one of the co-hosts of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. She earned her MA in Renaissance Studies from University College London and now lives in Rome, Italy. She cultivated expertise in street art which led to the purchase of her photographic archive by the Treccani Italian Encyclopedia in 2014. When she’s not spending time with her three dogs, she also manages the studio of a successful street artist. In 2013, she authored the book 'Street Art Stories Roma' and most recently contributed to 'Crossroads: A Glimpse Into the Life of Alice Pasquini'. You can follow her adventures online at @romephotoblog.
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