Measuring 3-meters tall, the Schiphol Clock presents a fascinating 12-hour video of Baas using a paint roller to consistently create—and repeatedly erase—the hands of the clock minute by minute for 12 hours straight. To Baas, this tireless and tedious approach to time-telling is the heart of the piece, which he describes as a “hyper-realistic representation of time.” He explains: “Real time is a term that is used in the film industry. It means that the duration of a scene portrays exactly the same time as it took to film it. I play with that concept in my Real Time clocks by showing videos where the hands of time are literally moved in real time.”

In the video, Baas is dressed in a pair of blue coveralls. In his hands, he holds a bright red bucket and vivid yellow rag. Though this look is predominantly inspired by the “many faceless men who sweep, clean and work at an airport,” it is also based on less obvious muses: distinctive Dutch artists (and primary color enthusiasts) Piet Mondrian and Gerrit Rietveld.

The lifespan of data on a USB flash drive depends on many factors: Under ideal conditions, data should remain preserved on a high-quality USB stick for at least 10 years or even longer. But what exactly does that mean and under what conditions does this hold true?

USB sticks or flash drives store data using NAND flash memory, in the form of binary valuesd (zeros and ones) in memory cells. Interestingly, it is electrons trapped in a kind of “floating gate” that represent these values. But these electrons can “leak” over time. This causes the data to degrade because it becomes harder to read whether the charge state represents a one or a zero. //

If the stick is exposed to high temperatures for a long time, this can cause the electrons to “leak” faster, which can damage the data and lead to its loss.