These audiovisual installations represent a significant development from Hooker’s original Timeline installation first exhibited at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in 2007 (RAE2008). Timeline 2 (2009) provided a springboard for the international group exhibition, AntArctica, curated by Tone Lyngstad Nyaas (2009). The latter is site-specific and aligned to other artefacts and installations in a gallery exhibition focusing on the effect of climate change in the Polar regions.

The electronics contained within Timeline 2 and Timeline – AntArctica continually produce sounds triggered ‘live’ by the radioactive cosmic ray particles passing into our atmosphere. The audible dimensions were complemented by a visual element mirroring the effect of the generated audio. Fundamental was the inclusion of supports alluding to the measurement of time and a series of electronic modifications that improved the sound quality, thus heightening the visual effect of the resonating drum-skin elements of the installation. Water was then added to the drum-skins to emphasise the vibrations caused by the audio. Located at the centre of the Tonsberg exhibition the installation placement ensured that the sounds made by the drums could be faintly heard throughout the two floors of the exhibition, acting as a reminder of the continual changes affecting our planet, the viewer, and the locations and objects depicted in the remainder of the exhibition.

The underpinning research developed from collaborations with the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading (AHRC-funded), the Met Office and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research. Timeline – Antarctica has featured in talks by Hooker at the Whitworth Gallery ('Cause and Effect’, 2010) and at the Natural Synthetic Symposium (‘When A Butterfly Flaps Its Wings’, University of Brighton, 2010), in an essay in the Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum AntArctica exhibition catalogue, and as part of an online webcast that is now available on YouTube.