Memory Object

Romance I and II
2023
Casio F-91W watches and Sharp quartz clocks with altered electronics

Two pairs of modified timepieces are entangled, such that each cannot tell the time in the absence of the other.

In I, two Casio F-91W watches each display a random time, only revealing the current time when added together.

In II, two quartz clocks randomly take turns ticking. The clocks’ internal motors are modified to ensure that only one clock is ticking at any given time.
In turn, the current time can only be deduced by summing them, and when separated, each clock can only give one bit of information: whether the other clock is ticking.

The timepieces can be separated across the planet and will still operate the same, necessitating the other to be useful.