time
the co-presence of different times
surrounded by many different layers of time
what is really contemporary?
what are we contemporary of?
heterochronia het·er·o·chro·ni·a (hět'ə-rō-krō'nē-ə)
n.
The origin or development of tissues or organs at an unusual time or out of the regular sequence.
Heterochronia. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Company. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Heterochronia (accessed: April 25, 2011).
I like this medical definition of the word, which gives a sense of "unusual" and "out of regular" times.
I see "the co-presence of different times" in my Abstract Head works of Mark Rothko, Damien Hirst and Picasso. Using a temporal sequence of images to create an evolving portrait of the artist to become the work.
Abstract Head: Damien Hirst [second from right] But in the past I have always thought of showing the work in a linear fashion, from youngest to oldest/emblematic work. This is not necessary. I need to have a look at what happens when I change the order of display of the work, for example, Abstract Head Mark Rothko:
I'm also interested in how this might work with Walter Benjamin:
Clearly this last image, taken of the Dani Karavan memorial to Benjamin "Passages", is pure Abstract Head. The concept of time is shown through the young, middle-aged (Benjamin was never old) and the memorial, giving rise to immortality... though of course this is mainly due to his writing and its continuing influence, rather than the memorial itself.
The use of mechanical reproduction leads us to be able to see any image by any artist at any time. Temporal, linear time really does become meaningless in this way.
temporal
mid-14c., "worldly, secular," later "of time, terrestrial, earthly" (late 14c.), "temporary, lasting only for a time" (late 14c.), from O.Fr. temporal , from L. temporalis "of time, temporary," from tempus (gen. temporis ) "time, season, proper time or season."
temporal. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/temporal (accessed: April 25, 2011).
contemporary
1630s, from M.L. contemporarius , from L. con- "with" + temporarius "of time," from tempus "time" (see temper). Meaning "modern, characteristic of the present" is from 1866. Noun sense of "one who lives at the same time as another" is from 1630s, replacing native time-fellow (1570s).
contemporary. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/contemporary (accessed: April 25, 2011).
Is the writing of Walter Benjamin contemporary? It was cetainly of its time, but also, given the continued interest in his work, it is also of the present.
http://www.artintheage.com/
And, by a quirk of fate/serendipity, Esther Leslie, a world renowned expert on WB, is the sister of my sister-in-law.http://www.militantesthetix.co.uk/waltbenj/benjp.htm
