Split I Second

Bringing together scientific instruments and artworks spanning 340 years, Split | Second invites visitors to considerhow we can measure time inspired and driven by natural cycles, with human interventions which shape our notions of the concept itself.Split | Second explores how humans measure, regulate, and rethink time, connecting scientific instruments and contemporary artworks displayed in four exhibition sections — Earth Time, Mechanical Time, Electric Time, and Atomic Time. From sundials and pendulum clocks to atomic oscillations and flowing rivers, Split | Second traces humanity’s evolving relationship with time, revealing that while the passage of time may be a natural process, the precision of time measurement is a deeply negotiated human construct. Featuring objects from the MIT Museum's collection along with a newly created piece, New England River Time (2025) from Jonathon Keats and National Times (Workout) (2019) from Agustina Woodgate. Exploring timekeeping related to natural processes, Split | Second exhibits sundials and other astronomical instruments, once used to track time that varied by season and location. These devices are complemented by American conceptual artist Jonathon Keats's work, New England River Time — exhibited for the first time — offering an unconventional river-centered definition of time. A living timekeeping system based on the variable flows of rivers in the New England watershed, New England River Time offers a poetic, earth-centered alternative to timekeeping that reflects climate variability and ecological change. By comparing current flow to historical average, Keats’s work makes climate change starkly visible as “river time” drifts permanently away from standard time.