Archetypes and architecture of time: an artistic inquiry into the nature of time, space and information

Interdisciplinary Conceptual Artist, USA

Published online: 5 September 2013

Abstract

This paper and poster seek to address several fundamental questions about time. What are the natural phenomena and cognitive structures that underlie the human perception of time? What social constructs have evolved around questioning its nature? How did they arise and evolve over the ages? I have been exploring the subject of time merging my background as a conceptual artist with principles of scientific study. My focus has been on the changing visualizations of time through the evolution of human society, from the earliest depictions of the flowing river or the circular uroboros – a snake eating its own tail – to the linear arrow and the paintings of Dali and Magritte, who depict time with modern metaphors of a clock, a train, or the 4th dimension. How have these images influenced scientific, religious and philosophical thought surrounding time? Drawn by now from our collective subconscious, do they naturally bias us towards particular conventional models? And finally, how can an analysis of the visual metaphors of time contribute to the larger dialogue, one that involves scientists, technologists and philosophers, each with their own theories on the subject? This project attempts to answer these questions, and to propose that art is an essential voice in any discussion about time. Can artists and scientists working together bring us closer to an answer to the age-old question – what is time?