WEEK7
‘Non-classical time’ can be activated by curatorial practices through the disruption of traditional narratives and engagement of audiences in installations that disregard linear time. Some ways that exhibitions can achieve this is by immersion, through the use of technology like Virtual Reality (VR), by the juxtaposition of different eras’ artworks, or by thematic curation around periodicity or memory. Strategies such as these encourage a deeper engagement with the concept of time in existence, challenging viewers’ preconceptions of it and inviting them to see time as a fluid intersection of past, present, and future.
This much was true of the art installation I visited while in Glasgow, in the dimly lit confines of which two small sculptures, one within a shell-like case and the other perched atop a rock, seemed to almost echo time itself. Frozen in silent dialogue, these pieces force us to wonder at the stories trapped within them. It is in reflecting on these artifacts that the aforementioned curatorial concept of non-classical time arises. These sculptures have the potential to represent archives, not just repositories, as living entities full of a temporal promise that invites the viewer to actively participate in the past, present, and anticipated future.
The temporality and narrative diversity contained in each piece demand a critical, personal examination of the active roles played by archives, as no definitions are absolute. The objects are not static and exclusive but dynamic and inclusive, facilitating the expansion beyond linear time and encouraging communal introspection and dialogue. As such, archives are more than static collections, actively participating in cultural and temporal dialogues and becoming the nexus where the personal and public spheres of experience converge, with private memory permeating public narratives. In this way, the sculptures assert the importance of preserving the past both for its own sake and also as a means to build the future. They invite the community to contemplate the archive and address it as a complex living thing, as a source of wisdom and inspiration, and as a mirror reflecting our own multi-layered narratives.
