Sunrises can be beautiful, not to mention sunsets, but seeing both at one time would seem to be an impossibility. Dries Depoorter, however, has developed an installation that displays the two events as they happen on side-by-side screens, using footage sourced via unsecured CCTV cameras.

Depoorter’s “24h Sunrise/Sunset” project uses a pair of Raspberry Pi 3Bs to show the images, and send time and location data to an Arduino Nano Every over serial. The Nano Every then reveals this info on four VFD displays on the console, giving onlookers a frame of reference.

24h Sunrise/Sunset is on exhibit at the “Window of the World” art festival in St. Moritz, Switzerland until October 18th, 2020. 

UPDATE: Depoorter has released a second version of his work, which includes a cleaner look inside with a custom PCB and improved software. This edition — created in collaboration with Shishani Vranckx and supported by IDFA DocLab and the Netherlands Film Fund — will premiere during IDFA DocLab on November 20th, 2020 in Amsterdam and online.