“The shapes of time are the prey we want to capture. The time of history is too coarse and brief to be an evenly granular duration as the physicists suppose for nature time; it is more like a sea occupied by innumerable forms or a finite number of types.” 鈥 George Kubler,聽The Shape of Time, 1962.
We interview Susan May, Global Artistic Director,聽White聽Cube, for their latest online show.
A: When did you begin planning this exhibition?聽
SM:Work on the exhibition began just a few weeks into lockdown and somehow, we managed to turn it around faster than any other exhibition I have done before.
A: In light of the pandemic, routines have been changed and thus, society鈥檚 concept of time has been altered, both in the domestic and commercial world. How does this show explore such ideas?
厂惭:听Being placed into a form of suspended animation has meant that, for many of us, time becomes a more elastic concept. Without the usual markers, our perception and memory of time spent becomes more fluid, with days seemingly rolling from one into another. For me, at least, it feels like it has both accelerated and crawled by. In thinking about this, I was reminded of how many artists, writers and philosophers have attempted to unpack the mystery of time, from Aristotle and St Augustine onwards. And so, it seemed like a hugely rich subject to explore, both as something that is measured through chronometry and as a phenomenon that is experienced as a temporal continuum.聽
A: How did you choose the artists to be included?
厂惭:听Taking the dichotomy of time as something both objective and subjective as a starting point, I looked for artworks that focused on measurable markers and the perception of time. For example, literally marking time through inscription, numbers or indexical markers in the work of On Kawara, Hanne Darboven and Darren Almond. Thinking about how time is perceived brought to mind the work of Olafur Eliasson, who first introduced me to the writing of Henri Bergson.聽Time and Free Willwritten by Bergson in 1889, posited the concept of duration, which Olafur鈥檚聽The small morning cloudencapsulates beautifully. And I also wanted to reference some of the broader themes around time and space, including works by Cerith Wyn Evans and Josiah McElheny. It is such a broad topic I could have doubled the number of artists but both time and space were also against me!
A: Time is used as both a concept and subject matter, with many of the works incorporating counters and spatial measurements. Are there any pieces that play with incohesion or a kind of inconsistency between the idea and its form?
厂惭:听Darren Almond鈥檚聽Perfect Time (3×2) plays with the slippage between the imposed 鈥渟tructure鈥 of time and our comprehension of it. Using a series of digital flip clocks, familiar in train stations and synchronised to the 鈥榗orrect鈥 time, Almond re-arranged the number sections. The result is a series of partial digits rendered abstract, simultaneously incomprehensible yet curiously familiar. In a way it asks us 鈥渨hat is聽real 迟颈尘别?鈥
A: Though time is 鈥 in our reality 鈥 constant, linear and expansive. How do the artists explore the possibility of variables, abstractions and alternate timelines? How do they explore larger metaphysical constructs, interrogating our very experience of duration?
厂惭:听The theoretical physicist Carlos Rovelli has asked 鈥渄o we exist in time or does time exist in us?鈥 which simply put takes us to the heart of the challenge when attempting to explain the concept of time. For me, Mona Hatoum鈥檚聽YOU ARE STILL HEREneatly condenses these questions and other metaphysical concerns by placing the viewer at its centre. Whilst we generally think of time as a linear construct, I also wanted to look at how circularity plays a part in our understanding, such as in the work of Tatsuo Miyajima. Using LED counters, his sculptures and installations count from one to nine in mesmeric repetition, reflecting the circle of life.
A: With a broad concept such as time, many artists and visitors may be drawn to consider larger, arcane parts of life, illuminating aspects of mortality, rituals of birth and death. What place does the everyday have within the show? Are there any works that circle around ideas of mundanity and the quotidian?
厂惭:听Christian Marclay, who famously made one of the most significant artworks about time with聽The Clock, also created a series of animations that succinctly incorporate the idea of time and the everyday. He took hundreds of still images of detritus he spotted on the streets during his daily walks to and from his studio in London. Noticing recurring 鈥 and at times random 鈥 objects, such as discarded cotton buds, he organised the images into categories that when shown in quick succession give the sense of a moving image.聽
A: Has the exhibition made you personally re-assess how you spend time or how you value it?
厂惭:听Working on the exhibition in such a condensed period has made me acutely aware of how fluid our sense of time has been during the past few months. And as we start to cautiously venture into our new reality, I鈥檓 reminded what a precious commodity it is.聽
About Time is on view until 16 July. To find out more, click .
Credits:
1. Josiah McElheny, Frozen Structure,听2008.
2. Darren Almond,聽Light of Time X, 2018.
3. Tatsuo Miyajima, Bi- Counter No. 2, 1988.
4. Haim Steinbach, going going gone,听1999.
5. Josiah McElheny, Frozen Structure,听2008
6. Josiah McElheny聽Crystal Landscape Painting (Sentinels),听2017.
