The End of the Millennium or The Countdown

Abstract

All we have left of the millenarian dateline is the countdown to it. The digital clock at the Beaubourg Centre, which shows the countdown in millions of seconds, is the perfect symbol for this century as it illustrates perfectly the reversal of modernity's relation to time. Time is no longer counted progressively from an origin but by subtraction, as with rocket launches or time bombs. This is a perspective of entropy. We no longer live with a vision of a world of progress and production. When you count the seconds separating you from the end, it means that everything is already at an end; we are already beyond the end.