909,125 minutes later

John Waid (b. Belfast) is a First-Year Art and Design lecturer at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin.
Waid’s practice generates a continuous stream of diverse ideas, the majority of which are humorous or absurd in nature. Occasionally, however, these ideas are practical, useable, and – where appropriate and possible – some ideas become actual physical outcomes. Over a nine year period, The Halfbakery website has been a convenient outlet for over a thousand of Waid’s ideas, with the use of an undisclosed moniker preserving his anonymity.
Dualities, flies, and the eclectic habits of small animals often feature in Waid’s work, as well as Toblerones and the Belfast peace lines. He continues to develop work under the title ‘Dubious Proposals of an Easily Deniable Nature’. Waid resists categories, and is as likely to be found proposing the rocket launch of a grand piano into a non-decaying orbit for space-station astronauts to play as he is inventing a new type of motorized drinking straw.
909,125 Minutes Later (2016) is a proposal to delay the sounding of the Angelus Bell by exactly 25 minutes and 21 seconds on 24 April 2016. The Angelus Bell is presently sounds at 6.00 p.m. each evening on RTÉ, the national television network of Ireland. The delayed time is to reflect on the fact that Ireland used to have its own time zone, which was changed in 1916 by English parliamentary decree – by 25 minutes and 21 seconds. The time change was imposed on 1 October 1916. There are 36,365 days between 1 October 1916 and 24 April 2016, making an accumulated loss of 909,125 minutes at the rate of 25 minutes per day. 909,125 Minutes Later is accentuated by the presence of a simple clock with the first 25 minutes of its numerals removed, along with RTÉ’s response to the letter proposing to delay the sounding of the Angelus Bell.