Mean Time

Toril Johannesen

Mean Time (MT) is the time standard by which the online world observes its own time. It is one of several successors to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and later Universal Coordinated Time (UTC). With MT the measurement of time is contingent on the current global internet activity. The more data being processed, the faster the pace, and vice versa.

Unlike GMT and UTC, which are localized to the Prime Meridian running through Greenwich, MT’s geographical reference point is a relation between the location of the observer and the location of the time keeping instrument at the given time of observation. MT is determined by anthropogenic and digital activity fed to computers and running through the world wide web at all times and from any given location.

MT can be manipulated at any time. For a dialogical approach, one may contact universal.mean.time@gmail.com to generate more mean time.

(Programming by Sindre Sørensen)

Toril Johannesen is an artist, living and working in Bergen, Norway.