On Trickling Away. Concepts of Time in Contemporary Art

Past – Present – Future. No concept shapes our daily lives as much as that of time. We require time to localize ourselves and to plan ahead. Time is not perceptible in and of itself, but we experience it in relation to the now, to what was before and what came after. The passage of time is objectively measurable. Its experience, on the other hand, depends on individual expectations, perceptions, and memories. Nowadays the captured past is collected digitally and in seemingly placeless and timeless databases. Our fast-paced reality is also mirrored in the visual representations of art that became mobile.

Time has always been a subject that art has dealt with. In the 21st century this appears to be less about images of future accelerations, but concerning designs on slowness, elongation, repetition and stand still. The works by 13 international artists in the exhibition On Trickling Away. Concepts of Time in Contemporary Art hone in on these ideas and make the passing of time tangible. Instead of attempting to dissolve the paradox between normative time and lived temporality, the selected artists appear to follow Gilles Deleuze’s philosophical dictum: People – as continuously becoming individuals - can experiment with the conditions of life and existence only when they recognise the flow of time.

artists:
Bernard Aubertin (FR, 1934-2015)
Inge Dick (AT, *1941, Innerschwand am Mondsee)
Rom Gaastra (NL, *1952, Amstelveen)
Gosbert Gottmann (DE, *1955, Frankfurt a. M.)
Tommi Grönlund & Petteri Nisunen (FI, *1967 & 1962, Helsinki)
Manuela Kasemir (DE, *1981, Leipzig)
Timo Klos (DE, *1983, Schwerte)
Dimitry Orlac (YU/FR, *1956, Paris)
George Rickey (US, 1907-2002)
Patrik Söderlund & Visa Suonpää (FI, *1974 & 1968, Turku)
John Woodman (UK, *1948, Eden Valley, Cumbria)

curator: Holger Kube Ventura