CONCEPT:“What people see is very much a function of what they have been trained or have learned to see in the course of growing up. Each person sees a slightly different world than everyone else, and if the people are from different cultures, the worlds can become very, very different.” (Hall p158). Edward T Hall introduces the concept of "Meta Time-and related elements. These elements can be grouped into four additional groupings of time and even further those four themes of time into eight constructs of time. By deconstructing time we first reach the two large groupings of time, Group/Individual and Cultural/Physical, which can be classified as the two major social constructs of time. The four grouping residing on the next tier down in the hierarchy of time are more focused on the philosophical aspects of time and are titled: Philosophical and Conscious, Situational Culture (High Content), Unconscious Emergent, and Existential (Low Content) Time. The last and most specific tier of time (and the tier we plan on focusing on the most in our installation) is the eight kinds of time: Biological, Personal, Sync, Micro, Profane, Sacred, Metaphysical, and Physical (for a better understanding of the alignments of time see fig. 3).
We acknowledge that time and space are irrefutably intertwined and that we as 'observers' create that space though our perception of the objects that reside within it. Therefore we can hypothesize that by altering our perception or reception of space we actually change the contents of that space allowing us to manifest, deconstruct or alter reality. By furthuring this hypothesis we can envision that we also possess the ability to control and manipulate time, as time is once again a series of collective perceptions. For example a galaxy two million light years away may no longer exist but we can percieve it to exist as we can still see it, even though the imagery we absorb is two million years old, and in this instant we are actively looking into the past.
Think of standing in a body of water and throwing a rock into the water infront of you. Ripples eminate from the entry point of the stone and crash upon your body. Let us consider that without water the ripples could not exist and put a name to this wave conductive medium, "the ether" (Hawking p31) and ether for sound being air. As sound, and light have ethers so does time, the ether being the mind. "According to the ether theory... If you move toward it [the source of the wave] through the ether, the speed at which you approach the [wave] will be the sum of the speed of [the wave] through the ether and your speed through the ether. The [the wave] will approach you faster than if, say, you didn't move, or you moved in some other direction" (Hawking, p31). So in theory you would be able to stop your perception time by moving away from an object at a speed equal to that of light or reverse time by moving at a speed faster than light (or more importantly than light the speed of perception). If you accept this then you also must consider the antithesis, that if looking at an object a light year away and approaching it you are entering the future. This same hypothesis can be applied to microlevel movements, that by moving through space you can expand and compress time (much like the Doppler effect) although these variations of time go unnoticed as they are so minute.
In this study we explore on 'Relativity', one of the most post-modern concepts of science in which events are not fixed but infact flexible and fluid, and only appear to be fixed when applied to absolute standards which are a creation of man and in reality nonexistant. The mind allows the experience of time to be something individual and controllable, if not consciously at least sub or unconsciously as our mind is the conductive material for time to flow through.
Looking back on Hall's kinds of time we can describe each time as an "ether" of time, possessing different conductive qualities for time, causing the ebb and flow of time to be in a constant state of flux sparking different perceptions of time. Hall's map of time is a visualization of all of these theories into a clear and maneuvarable space, giving a user a way to experience everything these theories present.
PROPOSAL:To create an interactive, immersive environment based upon the eight concepts of time. We will construct, in a physical manner, the mandala of time. In doing so we also hope to create mental, spiritual, virtual and physical spaces as representations of those times. (see figure 3)
The installation will take place in a single room, which will be loosely divided into eight sections and a centerpiece. Each section will ultimately lead to the centre where our artist statement will be painted on a circular piece of wood. From the center, the viewer will be able to look into mirrors reflecting each “zone” of time listed in the concept section. The center represents “Meta Time”, which is essentially the all-seeing time. So when standing in Meta Time and you are facing one section, you can still see all of the other sections because of the reflections in the mirror.
Within each section will be a pedestal, which represents the section of time presented in the area. Each pedestal will have a different item; some with video screens, some with physical pieces or something visual to represent the time. For example, one pedestal may have a video screen playing a loop of imagery.
Our objective is to allow the viewer to experience a new understanding of the concepts of times and the relationships between times. In our culture, we are only aware of a limited scope of time.
“Most of us who live in the industrialized world are using and distinguishing between 6 to 8 (of the 9) kinds of time that is possible to identify.” (Hall p14)
MATERIALS:1. Frames / Material to make walls
2. Pedestals (8)
3. TV/monitors for certain pedestals
4. DVD Players
5. Computers
6. Tall Mirrors (8)
7. Center wood piece
8. Paints
9. Software (Photoshop, Illustrator, Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Flash)
WORKS CITED Cassels, J. M. Basic Quantum Mechanics. New York: McGraw-Hill ;|aLondon, 1970.
Hall, Edward Twitchell. The Dance of Life: The Other Dimension of Time. New York: Anchor Books, 1984.
---. The Hidden Dimension. New York: Anchor Books, 1990.
---. The Silent Language. Toronto: Anchor Books, 1990, 1981.
Hawking, S. W. A Briefer History of Time. Ed. Leonard Mlodinow. New York: Bantam Books, 2005.
Parker, Barry. Albert Einstein's Vision: Remarkable Discoveries that Shaped Modern Science. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2004.
Above is John putting together our dimmer switch and creating our own extension cords
This is Devin, really excited because it worked, and he didnt die.
This is John really excited because Devin didnt die, and he doesn't know how he could ever go on without him.
Our beautiful, custom made dimmer switch.
4 of the 8 beautiful lights...... so beautiful.
