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The Environment SUNDIALS AS ENVIRONMENTAL POSTERS
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Sundials as Environmental Posters Milutin Tadić1, Zorica R. Prnjat1
1Faculty of Geography, Belgrade, Serbia
Corresponding author: Milutin Tadić, Faculty of Geography, Belgrade, Serbia, e‐mail: [email protected]
Abstract. Starting from 2012/13 academic year, the first year students of the Faculty of Geography in Belgrade mounted sundials in eighty primary and secondary schools across Serbia. This was a practical pre‐exam assignment in the Mathematical Geography course. Despite the fact that a good reception by pupils, teachers and local communities has confirmed the usefulness of this project, our four‐year experience has revealed that certain corrections and modifications are necessary in the future. Students’ sundials meet the basic function of a sundial and a teaching aid, but they are not sufficiently exploited as a means of communication. Except as clocks, sundials have always served to convey certain messages. Today, the symbols and inscriptions that remind the observer that time flies and that last moments are near would not be purposeful, but the symbols and inscriptions that draw pupils’/students’ attention to contemporary global problems, primarily the environmental issues are completely justifiable. Without a single mobile part, with a shadow as an incorporeal dial, inaudible, placed on a public, much‐frequented place, with distinctive design and a clear environmental message, sundials are becoming a kind of environmental poster. This is precisely how the project (practical assignment within Mathematical Geography) should be modified ‐ in the spirit of environmental art. The goal is to mount sundials that would be not only the clocks, teaching aids and ornaments, but also effective environmental posters ‐ thanks to the shade – the living environmental posters.
Key words: mathematical geography, gnomonics, environment, communication, environmental art
1. INTRODUCTION
Sundials are the oldest devices for measuring time intervals within a day. They have outlived their “peers” water clocks and sandglasses, and have survived until today, when we are overwhelmed with information on time from the screens of mobile phones, tablets and computers.
As clocks they used to have a main role during the ancient period and the Middle Ages until the XIV century, when they were gradually replaced by mechanical clocks that imposed new time system (equinoxial instead of temporal) and a new attitude towards time. Adapted to the new hourly system with a shadow thrower set in the celestial axis (with polos instead of gnomon) and a new way of measuring (following direction of the shadow), sundials remained in use for a long time together with the unreliable mechanical clocks and were used to correct their time measurements. The appearance of a mechanical clock with a pendulum in the mid‐seventeenth century marked the end of the active use of sundials. “Every new technology creates its own environment ... [which] turns the previous into an art form” [4]. So,
sundials, which had lost their function as time measurement devices, gained other new functions.
Owing to their multifunctionality, sundials are “in fashion” again. Their originality and modern design are admired by members of sundial societies and appreciated in specialized magazines and catalogs published by these societies. Following this popular trend, since the academic 2012/13, the first year students of the Geography department at the Faculty of Geography, University of Belgrade have been mounting sundials on primary and secondary schools in Serbia (mostly schools that they themselves attended) as the pre‐exam assignment or the so‐called “complementary type of activity” (CTA) within the subject of Mathematical Geography.
This assignment is completely justifiable in the Mathematical Geography course because students apply the acquired knowledge. However, it is not the only goal: this complementary activity brings a number of benefits to pupils, schools, and even the whole local community because sundials are not only devices for measuring time ‐ they are means of communication, too.
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2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
A sudent decides whether he/she will construct a sundial at the beginning of the semester and then receives a letter signed by the subject teacher (mentor) that they present to a principal of a school. The letter briefly describes the purpose of the project, methods and required materials and specifies the tasks and responsibilities of all participants ‐ students, mentor and schools.
Student. Having found a school, a student chooses the best site (building, wall, and position on a wall), then he/she determines the input data on the orthophoto image (geographic coordinates of the selected site/point, geographic azimuth of the wall), checks the accuracy of a sundial on a model, creates necessary templates that he/she will use (with a service man provided by the school or one that he/she has hired), copies a blueprint to the wall, fixes the polos, fixes metal figures or paints them directly on the wall, takes photos of all the stages and prepares a presentation for students of his/her generation and pupils of the school.
Course teacher (mentor). The course teacher provides practical instructions and recommends literature [6], checks the input data set by each student individually, sends to every student an appropriate blueprint of the time scale and polos, monitors and guides students’ work through email communication.
School. A school provides all necessary technical and material support: a principal encourages teachers to actively participate in the project, procures figures and wall paints, provides scaffolding, and asks a school caretaker to construct the polos according to a blueprint provided by a student and to participate in all phases of practical work (scaffolding setting, preparation of a wall, copying of a blueprint to the wall).
By completing this practical assignment, students revise their knowledge of mathematical geography (acquired knowledge must be implemented), revive the old skills (gnomonics) and leave to schools (local communities) sundials that serve as clocks, decorations and teaching aids.
Upon completion of the work (when a sundial is mounted), a student receives a number of extra credits for this pre‐exam assignment within the subject of Mathematical Geography.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Completion of the project begins when a student receives an official approval from the selected school. Sometimes a student’s proposal gets refused by
the school he/she attended, which makes some of them abandon the project straightway. Some give up in the following phases when they encounter obstacles (mainly financial ones). On average, one in five of the students who have volunteered for the project has given up so far.
The first student sundial was mounted in 2012 by Darko Strugarević on the primary school “Milinko Kušić” in Ivanjica. Another three sundials followed in the same year. In the following years, the number of registered students increased and the total number of sundials mounted to this day rose to eighty two (December 2016), eighteen in Belgrade alone (Fig. 1); around twenty sundials are currently under construction. Student sundials have been well received by pupils, teachers and local communities.
Students who enrolled on the 2015/16 academic year got the blueprints for a rectangular base measuring 170 x 120 cm (polos length 60 cm), whereas previous generations got the blueprints for a semicircular base with a diameter of 2 m. In order to facilitate the construction, date lines (projections of the celestial equator and celestial tropics) were not added.
The main function of a sundial is to measure time and for this the polos and the dial are sufficient. All student sundials perform this function: the shadow of the polos with its direction shows the Central European Time with accuracy equaling the value of the equation of time. Since the date lines are missing, the path of the shadow’s end does not indicate the astronomical beginnings of seasons, so that these student sundials do not present simplified calendars. Even without this function, they are original teaching aids that can be used by teachers of various subjects for teaching outside of classroom, primarily geography teachers [3] because basic astronomical knowledge is included in the primary‐school geography syllabus in Serbia.
Artistic aspect of sundials is left to students to choose. Students are suggested to decorate the sundials according to their preferences. Only a small number of students accepted the challenge and painted their own sundials (Fig. 2, Fig. 3), majority did not opt for this proposition due to time constraints, inability to do it by themselves, or because of limited finances.
Disregard of a decorative function of a sundial is not the only drawback of the project. Student sundials are not sufficiently used as a means of communication, too. When we say that, we do not have in mind a sundial as a device for displaying time, but a sundial as a device for transmitting open messages that are sent to observers by a constructor or a purchaser in the form of a picture or a slogan and hidden spiritual messages conveyed by the shadow itself.
The Environment SUNDIALS AS ENVIRONMENTAL POSTERS
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Figure 1. Sundials on the territory of Serbia in 2012, and 2016.
Figure 2. Students’ sundials: 1) Sara Šandor (Pavliš, 2015); 2) Dragana Nikolić (Likodra, 2015); 3) Aleksandra Ranković (Mladenovac, 2016); 4) Ivana Simić (Obrež, 2015).
The Environment SUNDIALS AS ENVIRONMENTAL POSTERS
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Figure 4. Anti‐war sundial mounted in Sarajevo in 1991, just before the civil war started. The inscription: Uh ... we have survived another day.
The inscriptions on sundials [2] range, from those that caution of the brevity and transience of life (A person's life is like a shadow, etc.), fear the observers (One of these [hours] will be your last, etc.) and encourage piousness (Light is the shadow of God, etc.); those that proclaim moral teachings (Always time for friends, etc.), and explain the functions of a sundial itself (Here shadows tell all, etc.), to those that have
ambiguous messages (I only count the sunny hours, etc.) (Fig. 6), and witty messages (Now is the time to drink, etc.), and those displaying dramatic warnings [5].
Thus, for example, on the granite slab of the sundial mounted in Sarajevo in 1991 (Fig. 4), above a caricature of the French artist Honore Daumier of 1841 (death that peers into the barrel of a cannon), a graffiti copied from the Berlin Wall was engraved ‐ Uh ... we have survived another day ‐ as a warning to citizens that war was at the door.
This inscription is effective because it is multi‐meaningful ‐ with a different visual design the inscription of this sundial could transmit an environmental message because war and environmental issues present two directly related contemporary global problems. The same effect and the same meanings could be found in the often used inscription on sundials ‐ The sun shines for everyone ‐ a slogan that calls for peaceful coexistence on the planet whose preservation is a common concern of all its citizens, equal in their rights and obligations (Fig. 5).
Bearing in mind this fact, in future, the project of students’ sundials (mounted on schools across Serbia) should get a new, environmental dimension ‐ each new sundial should convey an environmental message through its picture and inscription. These messages should inspire pupils to think about environmental issues and act accordingly (Fig. 7).
4. CONCLUSION
Vertical sundials are mounted on walls, in much‐frequented public places in order to be seen by many observers even from a distance; their content consists
Figure 3. Students with their sundials: 1) Marko Jovanović (Kragujevac, 2015); 2) Branislava Markov (Samoš, 2015); 3) Nikola Živković (Golobok, 2013).
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of graphical and textual elements designed to be noticeable and informative – they should convey certain information/message in a clear and distinct way. The same is true for a poster, and vice versa, all the principles for creating posters (balance, hierarchy, contrast, symmetry, depth, color...) apply to a sundial. Therefore, a sundial can be seen as a kind of poster, a means of communication, and a messenger.
The primary advantage of a printed poster is that it is easy to make and multiply, and can be put in many places, whereas every sundial is unique. Today, a sundial’s content can be printed on a plate made of artificial materials (for example, on a LEXANTM polycarbonate sheet, Fig. 2.c, Fig. 7), thus making this advantage less important.
On the other hand, the main advantage of a sundial is not only its multi‐functionality (a clock, a calendar, a teaching aid, a decoration, a messenger) but also its shadow, a visual element itself. The incorporeal and moving shadow that is “serving the days” is what compels every passer‐by to pause in awe before a sundial. A sundial is alive – “[it] is the visible map of time, till whose invention 'twas follie in the Sun to play with a shadow” [2].
A sundial does not have a single mobile mechanical part, weights, pendulum and springs, it does not need to be wound, it is inaudible, it does not consume any energy, and therefore, it is ideal to be used as an environmental poster – a living environmental poster.
Acknowledgement
We are deeply indebted to our students at the Geography department (generations 2012/13 –2016/17) for completing the project.
References
[1] Faverman, L. L.: The Sundial Theme in My Environmental Art. Leonardo. 10, pp. 177‐181, 1977. [2] Gatty, A.: The Book of Sun‐dials. London, George Bell and Sons, 1871. [3] Jovanović, S., Živković, Lj., Prnjat, Z., Obradović‐Arsić, D., Mihajlović, B., Budović, A.: Environmental Education from the Perspective of Serbian Primary School Geography Teachers. Journal of Environmental Protection and Ecology. 17 (1), 394‐401, 2016. [4] Maklaun, M. Poznavanje opštila: čovekovih produžetaka. Beograd, Prosveta, p. 30, 1971. [5] Tadić, M.: A Protest Sundial. BSS Bulletin, 92 (1), p. 40, 1992. [6] Tadić, M.: Sunčani časovnici. Beograd, Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva. 2002.
Figure 5. Sundial on the primary school „Desanka Maksimović“ in Gornji Milanovac (2015). The inscription: The sun shines for everyone.
Figure 6. Sundial on the primary school „Sonja Marinković“ in Zrenjanin (2006). The inscription: I only count the sunny hours
Figure 7. Sundial on the Primary School for Education of Adults “Djuro Salaj“ in Belgrade (2016). Gnomonics becomes a form of environmental art when inscriptions on sundials convey environmental messages [1].