INTERLUDIO 7: THE CURVATURE OF TIME, JOSÉ OLANO

How does time flow?
Do different temporalities exist?
How is time related to stability and instability?

When Alice in Wonderland asks the rabbit, “How long is forever?” he replies, “Sometimes, just one second.”

The curvature of time is a proposal that links concepts from physics with subjective interpretations. Three lines of investigation converge in this exhibition: a visual exploration, a corporeal exploration, and an object-based exploration.

The visual exploration seeks to give shape to time, assuming it as a line that flows through space beyond its physical support, creating compositions inspired by themes such as the source, rest, and surface.

The corporeal exploration consists of a video performance titled 24 Minutes. Starting from the idea that during physically demanding activities, the sensation of time becomes more intense, as if it expands, I perform a plank exercise in various public spaces in my city, Cartagena de Indias, next to unsuspecting passersby, for one minute each hour for 24 hours. In doing so, I confront my intense experience of time with the flow of everyday time.

In the object-based exploration, clocks take a central role as the preferred human tool for measuring and tracking the passage of time. Each clock has a unique aesthetic: some are old, large, and heavy, while others are small, delicate, and colorful, among other variations, creating dialogues between different temporalities, as if they were people, groups of people, or families trying to maintain a form of coexistence in balance. But, for how long? These elements are placed in the exhibition space using strategies of pressure, friction, and balance, aiming to convey some of the attributes related to the passage of time, such as the fragility of the moment, the force of gravity, the resistance of matter, rhythm, and entropy.

Taken together, this exhibition allows us to navigate the currents of time, approaching the concept from different perspectives. Time is intrinsic to life itself; it has always been, is, and will be, while we are left to measure and mark its rhythm, constantly asking ourselves: What do we make of it?

– José Olano