Figurate Calendars I

Geometric Time in 1- and 2-Dimensions

Figurate numbers are a mathematical way to represent various geometric shapes: triangle, square, pentagon in 2-dimensions; tetrahedron, cube, icosahedron in 3-dimensions; pentatope, and hypercubes in 4-dimensions; 2-d and 3-d fractals in their own pseudo-dimension. For the moment, let’s take a look at 0-, 1-, and 2-d representations of the months (15 to 60 days).

For the mostpart, theAbysmal Calendar represents the months of its various years as rectangles. The 13-month calendar’s months are composed of 4 weeks of 7 days, which creates a 4 x 7 rectangle. Beyond these, there are many other variations possible, and while they are aesthetic, there are some practical functions as well.

Calendar Gallery

A few possible arrangements of the fixed year

theAbysmal Calendar is an ongoing experiment in exploring time, art, calendars, and mythology as means of founding interdependent relationships between communities.

While the basic structure of theAbysmal Calendar is aligned with the Solstices & Equinoxes, the goal has been to harmonize as many of the features used in calendars and daykeeping systems. Many of these arrangements are used elsewhere, however theAbysmal synchronizes all of its measures to the Seasons.

the Lunar Calendars count all of the days, lunar months, and years without exception. All observational phenomena (planetary cycles, comets, precession, solar cycles, etc.) are recorded here.

the Solar Calendars that follow are regular divisions of the 365-day year.

Market Week Calendars are synchronized to the 365-day year, but repeat themselves along shorter periods, and synchronize with the solar year over longer periods.

Tesselating the Days

visualizing the year – because Time is Art

Hello friends. I’ve been experimenting with different ways to represent the year, in order to make our time more easily navigable. In the end, I’ve sort of fallen down a rabbit hole of patterns, numbers, and shapes.

Currently, I’m looking at tesselations – those shapes that fit together, like MC Escher’s art, and quilts.

Arrows of Time

Each arrow is shaded a unique colour, each of which is assigned to a particular day of the year. The above image is, among other things, a calendar.