For Immediate Release
Contact:  Sean Horton (415) 332-8867 ext. 104

ARE YOU SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YEAR IT IS?

.:. sands .:. of .:. time .:. returns to Rodeo Beach, Sausalito on October 18 & 19
An interactive timeline that blends science, art and history to propose a new perception of time 

Sausalito, CA:  Most people will answer 2002 to the question above.  However, based on recent scientific research, it would be more realistic to answer 13.7Billion.  ANTENNA, the Sausalito-based ground-breaking theater company, is promoting the big picture of time, that time began at the Big Bang and all time should be counted forward from that point. As part of their on-going campaign to encourage people to embrace this revolutionary concept, ANTENNA announces a reprise of Artistic Director, Chris Hardman’s interactive public art project, .:. sands .:. of .:. time .:. for two nights only on October 18 and 19 at Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands, Sausalito, California.

.:. sands .:. of .:. time .:. uses a 1,300 foot span of beach front as a metaphor for time.  The beach, which is raked into a Zen Garden of Time, encompasses the entire history of the Universe.  The first 1,300 feet of this walkthrough, interactive art experience represents the 13.7Billion years since the birth of the universe while the last grain of sand on this scale represents approximately the past 2000 years. This production invites you to embrace the big picture of the universe, to see the whole beach instead of just one grain of sand. The performance features sculptures and carvings embedded in and protruding from the sand, and is guided by and synchronized to ANTENNA’s trademark multi-layered soundtracks delivered via walkman.  Each audience member becomes a direct participant in the production as they embark on a 30-minute journey from the Big Bang to the present.  .:. sands .:. of .:. time .:. combines the beach setting, transformed by artistic manipulation, with words and music to create a tangible timeline, illustrating the AllTime concept conceived by Hardman.

AllTime is Hardman’s revolutionary change in the perception of time, changing how humanity sees itself with respect to time’s continuum. It reflects the true nature of time, beginning at the Big Bang some 13.2 billion years ago.  By incorporating the latest scientific information about the age of the Universe to date, AllTime is the first calendric system to measure time forward from the beginning of the universe.  It is also the only one not based on a cultural or religious epoch.  By expressing our true place in time, the AllTime system allows us to avoid the problems with all other systems, which actually count the majority of time backwards.  For example, the Gregorian calendar, which is the most widely used system, sets its zero point 2002 years ago at the birth of Jesus.  All time prior to that point is counted backwards or negatively as so many years B.C.  By choosing the Big Bang as its zero point, AllTime thus counts all of time forward to the present. And because it is not tied to any anthropocentric event as the basis for its calendar, AllTime is the first system that truly does away with the cultural and religious biases such other systems entail.  It is a universally shared understanding based on scientific fact. 

Scientists Ferreras, Melchiorri and Silk assert in their article, Setting New Constraints on the Age of the Universe, in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society December 2001, that the age of the Universe can be determined at 13.2 +1.2/-0.8 GYR (billion years).  They used three independent techniques in determining this age: “cosmochronology of long-lived radioactive nuclei, stellar modeling and population synthesis of the oldest stellar populations, and, most recently, the precision cosmology that has become feasible with the mapping of the acoustic peaks in the cosmic microwave background.”