This is an archived page from the Website Archive of British artist Ellie Harrison from Version 3.0 (active 2008 - 2015). New website: www.ellieharrison.com

last updated
15th July 2015

Throughout 2003 Ellie recorded the exact time, to the nearest minute, of her every sneeze. The times of the sneezes were noted down as they occurred in the notes section on the reverse of the Daily Quantification Records, on which she was also collecting data bout 14 other aspects of her everyday life. Over the course of the year a total of 318 sneezes were recorded.

For the installation of Sneezes 2003 at the Wallner Gallery, the space was used to represent the year 2003. The walls of the gallery were divided vertically into the months of the year and divided horizontally into the times of the day. Both these axis combined to form a giant two-way timeline. The location of each sneeze was then pinpointed on one of the walls to indicate the exact date and time at which it happened.

Two coloured coded systems were used to denote the changes in season and the different times of the day. The ‘monthly colour register’ allocates each month a different colour from the electromagnetic spectrum. Every other month then becomes an exact colour mix of the two neighbouring months. Each colour has a gradient of 12 different shades, which fade up and down dependant on the time of day - midnight being the darkest and midday being the lightest. This can be seen in more detail in the poster describing the installation by clicking on the link to the right under ‘Further Reference’.