Temporality: culturally specific perception of time

focus: social organazation of time

manifestations: clocks, calendars, division between working days and weekends, habits of eating lunch or sleeping at certain hours

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Allen Bluedorn
"The human organization of time" (2002)

"time differs"

Normative temporality: a dominant perception of time in a certain society

In the beginning of the 21st century in Western societies, the human perception of time is greatly influenced by a constant calculation of

time units divided by units of predictable useful outcome equals rate of production

I consider this to be the current normative perception of time and call it

temporality of productivity

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Byung-Chul Han
"The scent of time" (2017)

The absolute value of work dominated Western societies after Industrualization

Work implements a single mode of relating to the world

"Time is work"

temporality of work

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Features of temporality of productivity

*time is measurable, hence time is quantitative

*time flows in one direction

*linearity

*order

*homogeneity

*predictability

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Time as a human construction

To resist the temporality of work, which leads to empty time, Han suggest a dialogue between vita activa and vita contemplativa.

He foregrounds the practice of vita contemplativa through

lingering

reflection

hesitation

Elie During
"Coexistence and the flow of time" (2016)

He views time as form and investigates it through three directions

1) Duration (permanence)
2) Order (succession)
3) Coexistence (simultaneity): time as envelope of becoming, holding together durations, relating to reciprocal action



He subverts the binary of measured time and lived duration.

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Han creates an image of time

as lingering scent

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Colour scheme

My thoughts and findings on time and temporality

Theoretical field

Artistic field

Ideas I am currently interested in and playing with

Questions that concern the direction of the research

Henri Bergson
"Time and Free Will"

He investigates human experience of time.

time as duration: interweaving qualitative states of consciousness

He relates time to heterogeneity and multiplicity.

He speaks about pure time and pure duration.

Virginia Mastrogiannaki
"Jargon" (2016)




She embodies a human clock.
It becomes visible that the clock as a manifestation of quantitative time conditions the artist's language, her way of thinking and the movement of her body.

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I use Bergson's duration as an entry point to argue that time is not simply quantitative.

time is something other than quantity

or

time is non-quantitative

Yet, I am not in search of pure time.

Multisensory experience of time

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Temporality: culturally specific perception of time

Experience of time: practical dialogue with the manifestations of temporality in everyday life, which has a type of affect on humans and non-humans.

By making the manifestations of normative time visible and by engaging in practical dialogue, the possibility of agency arises.

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My durational practice of walking slowly (still-act) in public space viewed through the notions of hesitation and agency of pace:

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Annette Arlander
works with still-acts. The still body of the performer makes the changes in the landscape visible.
The performer acts as witness of the landscape. Witnessing relates to listening, observing, waiting.

Still-acts subvert the modern idea of constant movement, activity, progress.

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Marilyn Arsem
views performance as a way of thinking.
In her durational performances she uses time in different ways.
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|--->durational performance as a way to think
about time

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In his 1976 novel "Even cowgirls get the blues", Tom Robbins describes a clock that chimes irregularly. The chimes of the clock do not count time, they urge to pay attention to...

regular pace (tick)

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Time non-measuring device

*Building a time machine that chimes irregularly and unpredictably

*Sharing time with the machine in a closed space and in public space

*Using no other device to measure time

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How does my body engage with language while it walks in such slow a pace?

How do I talk?

What do I say about time?

Do I need to talk?

Derrida dubs the intrinsic time of hospitality temporality of waiting,

awaiting the unexpected.

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What is my relationship to the existing organization of time?

What happens to my relation with other people when I question schedules and time-measuring devices?

How can I embody other temporalities in order to stage a practical dialogue with normative temporality?

How does normative temporality affect hospitality, attention/attentiveness, care?

How can I host other temporalities in public space while engaging with passers-by.

How can I involve passers-by into a walk that advocates the agency of pace?

Although humans witnessed the end of modern time in 20th century, modern temporality still persists in neo-liberal Western societies through the absolute value of work and the prominent temporality of productivity. However, the temporality of machinic algorithms has been added to the equation. The speed in which digital devices operate is not perceptible by the human brain. Yet, humans can perceive the results of algorithmic operations (through the use of digital media) and are, therefore, influenced by their algorithmic temporality. I have not gone towards this direction and I do not know if I can ignore it.

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