Depicting Impermanence

“And indeed there will be time, for the yellow smoke that slides along the street, rubbing its back upon the window panes; there will be time, there will be time. To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet; there will be time to murder and create; and time for all the works and days of hands, that lift and drop a question on your plate; time for you and time for me, and time yet for a hundred indecisions, and for a hundred visions and revisions, before the taking of a toast and tea.”

[1] TS Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1965)

I. Background

In 2021 I began my own project In-Between. The study aims to track the changes of mind states throughout the struggling phase (from the point of change – state of limbo – the point of new stability) and translate these emotions visually. The subject matter determines that the notion of time would have to be a determinant concept of the current practice. To specify, I had to find a way to demonstrate identifiable and visible changes through time, whether reflected in the mediums and also content. 

1.1 General Philosophy

“It is not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they are not.”

[2] Thích Nhất Hạnh (2015)

Impermanence is one of the essential doctrines of Buddhism. The doctrine asserts that “all of conditioned existence, without exception, is transient, evanescent, inconstant, All temporal things, whether material or mental, are compounded objects in a continuous change of condition, subject to decline and destruction.” [3] (Buswell Jr.; Donald S. Lopez Jr, 2013)

1.2 The Psychology of Dealing with Transitions

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”

[6] John Milton, Paradise Lost (1608-1674)

Awareness of the inevitable changes in life is universal. Coinciding with Buddhism philosophy, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus identified change as the only constant in life back 2,500 years ago [7](Kahn, 1981) Comparing my own diagram with William Bridges’s transition model, it appeared that the anatomy was easy. However, knowing doesn’t make the process of transition any easier. As humans, we long for stability and are prone to changes and disruptions. Managing transitions involves acknowledging and internalising loss, enduring chaos, and engaging in decision-making and actions to force a new beginning and establish the foundations of new stability. The process could be so painful because it requires disengagement, the possible dismantling of previous beliefs, self-identities, perspectives, values, acceptance of the loss and lack of purpose, [8](Ninivaggi, 2019), and among all things, rationality and creativity to seek for solutions. All of these, are against our nature and personal wills. 

II. The Changing Conceptions of Time

Looking back, our conceptions of time have changed radically over time. Time was once believed to be God-given. [10] (McCouat, 2015) Proposed in 1905 and published in 1915, Einstein’s theory of relativity has transformed theoretical physics and revolutionised our understanding of the structure of the universe. Physicists and later the public began to accept that time is relative. We began to view spacetime as a unified entity both of space and time, and we know that massive objects could cause distortions in spacetime (Gravitational time dilation). 

In Art in A Speeded Up World, McCouat argued that beyond the revolutionary theory, changes in the understanding of time were the product of many factors, such as developments in technology such as photography, rail system, telegraphy, and on a macro scale the impact of industrial revolution and urbanisation. [11] (McCouat, 2015) As for photography, the most obvious time-related feature was “the capacity to capture and process images faster than the human eye.” Other technology advancements such as in transportation and communication, have unravelled the experience of travelling and communicating – the measurable time required for such experiences was greatly shortened, and therefore changes the perceptions of distance and spacetime. [12] (McCouat, 2015)

In theory and realistically, everything is connected. However, for this research, I would refrain from being overly obsessed with how scientific, social and cultural development shaped individual perceptions and infiltrated art practices. I would instead, focus on understanding how the passage of time was depicted by artists from different generations, studying their practices, and mining inspirations to strengthen my own practice. 

If we could let go of theories and dive back to our instincts for a moment, what do we think about when we think of time? Is it nostalgia over the past, the mixture of fear and hope about the future? Is it the anxiety of losing grip on the uncontrollable? Do we share the same melancholy over the inevitable aging, loss, and death, or do we marvel at the omnipotent power of time to change everything? The universe is indifferent. On a glacial scale, stars came to birth and eventually die. We came into existence as those species who came before, and we would perish as those who did before. The death of our sun and the fate of mankind is too far in the future for us to worry about. Each of us only has one life to live, we enjoy, love, worry, and mostly, endure. A lifetime is the longest we could actually experience, understandably, we would more or less associate time with birth, death, and decay, the undefiable beyond our control. 

III. Depicting Time

In practice, depicting the intangible is not always an easy task. Out of morbid interest, I have made the below a map highlighting a few artists amongst the many I find to be interesting and significant in exploring the effect of time on their works, corresponding with important events shaping the concept of time and the evolution of time measurement (see below). Note here that the timeline is far from complete, and left out many inspirational artists. Nevertheless, we could still get a quick view of how practice focuses shift over time. 

The Concept of Time Reflected in Artwork – An Incomplete Timeline

In the early days, understandably, artists would depict the passage of time in a more literal and representational way. It could be the capture of a moment of time or visuals of symbolic meanings such as hourglasses, skulls, etc. rather than incorporating time as an element into the work. But such approaches should not be dismissed at all, they are the products of their own times, it is interesting to know the facts, but useless and unjust to compare the approaches with those of contemporary artists. In the map below, I have highlighted Venus, Cupid, Folly, Time, and Allegory of Vanity.

In the Allegory of Vanity, there are motifs of vanity symbolism – the earthly goods pursuits, and pleasures: pearls, jewels, and coins. There are also skulls, a blown-out candle, an hourglass, and “Nil omne” (All is nothing) written next to it – which was a statement of the ideology of the work. For me, beyond symbolism, such philosophy was in fact a realisation of impermanence.

Later, as McCouat suggested, advancements in theories and technology have altogether driven modern artists into bolder experiments. More than paintings, Monet’s series of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Rouen was also a continuous approach to capturing the change of light at different times. [15](McCouat, 2015)

In the 1830s, the introduction of photography radically changed the way of viewing, and almost immediately captured the attention of the artists of the time. Today with digital manipulation, we could argue the genuinity of any photographic work. Yet back in the time, photography was directly associated with objectivity, especially in comparison with paintings, which are essentially subjective depictions of reality. With the capacity of capturing and reproducing reality, photography (and films) has in a way, freed painters from the burden of realistic reproduction, offered new ways to examine light, space, and movement, and pushed the painters into the explorations of new artistic opportunities, for example, spontaneity and visual ambiguity. One notable example would be Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (Nu descendant un escalier n° 2) by Marcel Duchamp. Combining elements of both the Cubist and Futurist movements, and as a direct response to Étienne-Jules Marey’s superimposed movement, Duchamp depicted motion with superimposed images.

I created drawings describing restlessness associated with insomnia by drawing overlapping sleeping figures. In doing so, without having Marey or Duchamp in my mind, I was solely focused on visualising movement and change through time within one static image, while for medium and style, I was by that time largely influenced by the magnificent Jenny Saville. Now looking back, marvelling at the works and philosophy of Marey and Duchamp, I have gained a much clearer understanding of my own interest and the reasons behind it. Throughout the process of the project, I have not dismissed any means of artistic language. With my adoration of films, I have from time to time allowed myself to explore moving images, which seemed to be the obvious choice for the project. Yet with every attempt toward time-based media, I would eventually come back to still images, with or without me being conscious of my own fascination. Those superimposed images of Marey and Duchamp still move me every time when I see them. Putting all stages of movement through time into one image is more than just depicting the passage of time, but creating a completely different experience of spacetime holistically. The limitation of the experienced time ceases to exist, and by looking at the images, we are looking at the past, present, and future altogether holistically, we are looking at everything at once. And that is what fascinates me.

Later, more interesting and thoughtful depictions of time emerge in surrealism artworks. One example would be the frequently talked about but still worth mentioning La persisteance de la mémoire (The Persistence of Memory). In his memoir, Dalí said that he had the idea while having soft camembert at dinner while thinking about “super softness”. [16] (Klingsohr-Leroy, 2015) He had also claimed that he didn’t know the meaning of the work, which opened up endless discussions among scholars, artists and audiences. [17] (Dotson, 2020) The work is therefore subject to interpretations, in the book surrealism, Klingsohr-Leroy has associated the motifs with the unconscious fear of death. [18] (Klingsohr-Leroy, 2015) McCouat saw the work as an approach to show how time can be manipulated, and rendered ineffective and irrelevant. [19](McCouat, 2015) Personally, I think all interpretations are valid. I wondered if the choice of motifs (clocks) and the public interest could be a reflection of the increasing awareness of the importance of time in general perceptions. 

A more subtle discussion of time was revealed in René Magritte’ La durée poignardeé (Time Transfixed). McCouat has noticed that the shadows suggest a much later time than the time on the clock. [20](McCouat, 2015). In the essay “Theatre in the Midst of Life”, Magritte has made a clear statement, claiming his art to be the stage where the laws of space and time cease to apply. [21](Klingsohr-Leroy, 2009)

In the 60s, conceptual artists including Roman Opałka, On Kawara, Hanne Darboven had pushed the depiction of time to an extreme. They had embedded the notion of time in the content, philosophy, and most profoundly in their process by establishing and committing to rigorously serialized systems. Both Opałka’s 1965/1-∞ and Kawara’s Today series (date paintings) have lasted for almost half a century, which were sustained practices lasting throughout the artists’ careers. Kawara had referred to his way of working as the “primordial forms of image-making”. Each Date Painting had to be completed within 24 hours with the same ritual, and in One Million Years, every page contained five hundred years typed in a uniform format. [22](Papastergiadis, 2019) Starting from the number “1”, Opałka continued to paint numbers sequentially in rows on the same sized canvas (the size of the door of his Warsaw studio). When he ran out of space, he would start again on another canvas. Each canvas is a detail of the series. At last, Opałka completed 233 details and ends with the number 5,607,249. [23] (Theophanidis, 2011)  In Darboven’s Cultural History 1880–1983 (1980-83),  1,589 individually framed works on paper of uniform format and 19 sculptural elements deliver an overwhelming encyclopedia of cultural, social and historical elements. [24](Adler, 2009)

Beyond the artworks, the repetitive, rigorous act of creating with the incredible level of commitment to self-imposed restrictions is in itself, a legendary portrait of a time, an act to defy the infinity of time. The three artists had in a way unravelled my understanding of art and affected both my practice and my attitude toward life in general. I am entirely drawn to the persistence, the bold ambitions and calm yet defiant sentiments subtly hidden behind the deadpan systems. In a way, I think it is almost romantic. 

IV. Notable Artworks

1. Artwork: 1965/1 – ∞, 1965-2011, Roman Opałka, relevancy: the passage of time, compulsion, a system of marking time 

“The end is defined by the death of the artist. Death as an instrument (organ) of finitude, of the work of a lifetime, in the form of the Details, the paintings that branch off from the single, overall work: Opałka 1965/1-∞.”

Roman Opałka

[25] Christie’s, 2015

In 1965, while waiting for his wife in Cafe Bristol in Warsaw, Opałka had the idea of depicting time by simply counting. (Morgan, 2014) Soon after that, Opałka began his first work of the lifelong series of 1965/1 – ∞ on a black canvas of the size of his studio door in Warsaw. The number “1” was inscribed on the top left corner of the canvas, followed by 2,3,4. The counting went on from left to right, top to down, and finished the bottom right corner at 35,327. Then he’d start again on another same-sized canvas. Each painting is titled “detail”, as they are part of the technically infinite number sequence. At the end of each day of painting numbers, Opałka would take a simple headshot of himself, to record the inevitable changes on his own face. [26] (Brettkelly-Chalmers, 2019)

It wasn’t obvious at the first sight, but as Brettkelly-Chalmers has pointed out in her book Time, Duration and Change in Contemporary Art, Opałka would begin by “dipping his brush into white paint and writing across the canvas until the paint is dry.” [27] (Brettkelly-Chalmers, 2018) This is why the numbers tend to fade into black from time to time, creating another way of marking with its own rhythm within each painting.

In 1972, Opałka began to add 1% of white paint to the black background of each work. [28](Speed, 2010) By his estimation, by the end of his life, he would be painting white numbers on a white background, the numbers will then become imperceptible. [29] (Brettkelly-Chalmers, 2018)

2. Artwork: One Year Performance, 1980-1981, 謝德慶 (Tehching Hsieh), relevancy: the passage of time, compulsion, a system of marking time

From 11 April 1980 to 11 April 1981, Hsieh was committed to a one-year performance (The Time Clock piece) – he punched a time clock every hour and took a picture of himself next to the clock for 366 days. The final installation piece of the works involved Hsieh’s uniform, time clock, 16 mm film camera, photo strips, time cards, photographs and letters. [30] (Cummings, 2017) When I first looked at Hsieh’s work, I didn’t know much about his background. Regardless, I was moved by the simplicity and formality of the visuals and the extraordinary commitment. Although Hsieh had claimed in his interview that he was enjoying the process of making the work, the system of his practice was undoubtedly physically and mentally demanding. The unshakable commitment to a self-imposed routine is in my view the highlight of human strengths. In the six-minute film and also the potentially 8,760 photos, the audience could clearly witness the traces of time as reflected in the artist’s physical transformations: the hair grows longer and the signs of fatigue and restlessness. The visual delivery was blunt, unpolished and forms no barrier for any viewer to understand. And as Groom has pointed out, the 133 times that Hsieh failed to punch the clock out of the potentially 8,760 times also adds rhythms to the work – the experience of time by absence. [31][32] (Cummings, 2017) (Groom, 2013)

I have talked about the works of Hsieh, Onkawa and Opałka with many of my friends and peers, and received quite opposing responses: There seems to be no neutral zone in viewing the works of the very group of conceptual artists, it’s either love or hate. While some marvel at the almost inhuman discipline of the work, some would completely disapprove that there is any meaning in the repetitive “waste of time”. I find the divergence to be interesting. In a way, regardless of the actual sentiment, applaud the artists for their ability to provoke such strong emotions. I cannot speak for everyone that despises such practice, to do that, we need a large sample of interviewees and engage in lengthy conversations diving to the bottom of individual philosophies of life. I could, on the other hand, reflect on the changes in my attitude toward myself. There used to be a time when I fear the very thought of repeating my days without accomplishing anything. The thought of infinite repetition is as dreadful as the thought of death itself, given the motifs commonly used to depict time (see above the Changes of the Concept of Time) I believe this emotion might be universal to some extent. The emotion used to overwhelm me, especially when I was younger, I used to move around the world from city to city, mostly out of the fear to commit to one lifestyle for eternity. In other words, I used to abandon and change my life for the sake of change.

My current project also originated out of such discomfort, coming out of a state of limbo, I was desperately in need of making sense of life. Yet reviewing the experience of purposelessness, I’ve come to realise that my mind had already changed: To deliver myself from depression and hopelessness, I had to make myself follow a very simple yet strict routine, to wake up, eat, take a shower, to read, to walk, to breathe, to eat, to take a bath, to sleep and repeat. During my darkest days, it was not the exception that kept me going, but the chores and routines which grounded me in real life and eventually pulled me out of my own mystery. Hsieh expressed the foundation of his practices: that the “precondition’ of all life is the passing of time” and that “life is a life sentence”. [33](Cummings, 2017) Looking at my life right now, I no longer fear the “immutable”. That is not a surrender, but rather the peace of mind to work toward objectives and endure boredom, while consciously reminding myself to appreciate the glimpse of beauty in the mundane. And that is the foundation of my current practice. In Every Waking Hour. I am committed to taking a photo in the first minute of every hour when I am awake. In the Mood of Days, I record my mood daily by drawing a mood bubble in my diary. My art is nurtured by the moments of my life, like Hsieh, there is no longer a need for boundaries distinguishing work time and lifetime, as they are all part of the “art time”. [34](Cummings, 2017)

3. Artwork: The Clock, 2010, Single-channel video, 24 hours duration, Christian Marclay, Relevancy: the concept of time, narratives, interpretation of reality

“The Clock is very much about death in a way. It is a memento mori. The narrative gets interrupted constantly and you’re constantly reminded of what time it is. So you know exactly how much time you spent in front of The Clock.”

[35] Christian Marclay (2019)

The film is therefore an epic collage of how people spend their time, a film of life, and possibly the most interesting functioning clock. To make the film about time into an actual timepiece synced to real-time has its significance. In doing so, Marclay has successfully broken the boundary between fiction and reality, past and present. The audience is experiencing the past in the present and uncontrollably slips into the future. 

4. Artwork: Sun Tunnels 1973-76, Concrete, steel, earth, Great Basin Desert, Utah, Nancy Holt, Relevancy: the experience and changes through time

“Time is not just a mental concept or a mathematical abstraction in the desert. The rocks in the distance are ageless; they have been deposited in layers over hundreds of thousands of years. Time takes on a physical presence…Being part of that kind of landscape, and walking on earth has surely never been walked on before, evokes a sense of being on this planet, rotating in space, in universal time.”

[38] Nancy Holt (1977)

Sited in the remote Great Basin Desert in Utah, Holt’s Sun Tunnels consists of four concrete structures arranged in an X formation, positioned precisely to track the solstice trajectory.  The drill holes on the concrete are configured to correspond to the constellations of Draco, Perseus, Columba, and Capricorn. [39][40] (Holts Smiths Foundation, 2022)(Brettkelly-Chalmers, 2018). 

According to Holt, the work “evolved out of its site” as the idea came to her while she was watching the sunrise and sunset. The work is in fact strictly site-specific as it’s closely attached to its environment and cannot work just anywhere. The Sun Tunnels is often credited as a masterpiece of land art. Yet compared to Michael Heizer’s Double Negative, which was to use the land as both a canvas and medium, Holt took a different approach. The giant concrete tubes are sculptures in nature, but also lenses guiding the viewpoint of the observers. Looking from the tunnels, the sun moves up or down, the colours of the landscape change, and the projections of the constellations shift with each minute passing by. Because of this, the tunnels were also the frames of the landscape and sheltered space to experience the changes through time. Personally, it’s almost like Holt has created a theatre in the desert, where the sun the stars the land is on screen in a loop with variations, till eternity. 

V. Project In-Between

The project is not eye candy. The works I have produced during this phase are all somewhat heavy. Some of my works have reached the audience and generated responses and understanding. It was nice to be understood, but on the other hand, I knew what it takes to feel related. I have been asked by many throughout the project, either out of empathy or a morbid curiosity of the unfortunate, why did I do what I did. As I believe art is subject to interpretation, I didn’t care to preach. The works I made have no profound meanings or any superior ideologies.

I have found no ultimate truth nor do I believe in it. The world is complex. People live different lives and bear different weights. We may find at times, a comparatively optimised solution with given variables and conditions, but there is no optimal solution to everything. If I could share anything from my personal experience, that would be I have come to the acknowledgment that change is the only constant in life. I do not always like it. I disagree that all pains and trauma will make me stronger. I do not believe we would be better off in the future, at least not necessarily. But I do accept it. Not in a way I will drown in sorrows and become oblivious to my life, nor will I be obsessed to turn the tides. It’s to abandon all naive and wishful thinking without losing hope. It’s to trust, knowing you could be betrayed, to try, knowing the odds of failing. At this stage of my life, this is the best I could do within my capability. Should anyone cares to know, this is what I think. Yet the works bear no intention to impose any philosophies on anyone. The project is not designed to enlighten people or praise life, nor it is intended to exaggerate any misfortune. It is more of a documentary in visuals: trauma happened, I’ve been through the phase, and I will most likely go through it again, like everybody else. I have survived this time, but it doesn’t mean I will in the future. And for those who didn’t make it through, I understand.  

Images

1. Spring in a Hot Spring, Hiroshi Yoshida (吉田博), 1940
2. Bridges Transition Model [9] (Bridges, 2017), Okslides 
3. Illustration of the Emotion Changes throughout Transition, Pandora Wang
4. The Concept of Time Reflected in Artwork – An Incomplete Timeline, Pandora Wang, Drawn referring to [13] (Dominique,2012); [14] (Invaluable, 2022)
5. Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time, Agnolo Bronzin
6. Allegory of Vanity, Antonio de Pereda
7. Cheval blanc monté, Étienne-Jules Marey
8. Descente d’un plan incliné, Étienne-Jules Marey
9. Nu descendant un escalier n° 2, Marcel Duchamp
10. 1965/1 – ∞; Détail 993,460–1,017,875, Roman Opałka
11. On Kawara, One Million Years
12. Cultural History 1880–1983, (1980–1983), Hanne Darboven
13. One Year Performance (Artist Performing), 1980-1981, Tehching Hsieh
14. One Year Performance, 1980-1981, Tehching Hsieh
15. The Clock, 2010, Christian Marclay
16. Sun Tunnels, 1973-76, Nancy Holt
17. Project In-Between – Zolpidem 500mg, Charcoal on Paper, 2021, Pandora Wang
18. Project In-Between – Every Waking Hour, Polaroid Films, 2022, Pandora Wang
19. Project In-Between -Merry Go Round of Life 1/7 Fold, Unfold, Film of Zoetrope, 2022, Pandora Wang
20. Project In-Between – Those Were the Days, Paper Installation (700 diaries), 2022, Pandora Wang
    
    

References

1. Eliot, T. S. (1965) The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, June 1915 issue of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse
2. Nhat Hanh, T (2015) The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation, p.132, Harmony
3. Buswell Jr, R.E.; S. Lopez Jr, D. (2013). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. pp. 47–48, Article on Anitya. ISBN 978-1-4008-4805-8
4. Prusinski, L, (2013) Wabi Sabi, Mono no Aware, and Ma: Tracing Traditional Japanese Aesthetics through Japanese History. Available at: https://castle.eiu.edu/studiesonasia/documents/seriesIV/2-Prusinkski_001.pdf
5. Kazumitsu, K (1962). Some Notes on Mono no Aware. Journal of the American Oriental Society. 82 (4): 558-559. doi:10.2307/597529. ISSN 0003-0279.
6. Milton, J, 1608-1674. (2000). Paradise lost. London ; New York :Penguin Books
7. Kahn, C.H. (1981), The Art and Thought of Heraclitus: An Edition of the Fragments with Translation and Commentary, Cambridge University Press (1981)
8. Ninivaggi, F.J (2019), The Emotional Transition To Stable Life Change. Available at:  https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/envy/201909/the-emotional-transition-stable-life-change
9. Bridges, W(2017), Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change (Revised 4th Edition)
10. McCouat, P (2015) Art in A Speeded Up World Art in A Speeded Up World, Part 1: Changing concepts of time, para. 1, Available at: https://www.artinsociety.com/art-in-a-speeded-up-world.html
11. McCouat, P (2015) Art in A Speeded Up World Art in A Speeded Up World, overview, Available at: https://www.artinsociety.com/art-in-a-speeded-up-world.html
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13. Dominique, F (2012) The Mastery of Time
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16. Klingsohr-Leroy, C (2015) Surrealism, p.38
17. Dotson, S (2020), Understanding “The Persistence of Memory,” Salvador Dalí’s Surrealist Masterpiece, Available at: artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-understanding-the-persistence-memory-salvador-dalis-surrealist-masterpiece
18. Klingsohr-Leroy, C (2015) Surrealism, p.66
19. McCouat, P (2015) Art in A Speeded Up World Art in A Speeded Up World, Part 3: The ‘new’ time in painting, Available at: https://www.artinsociety.com/art-in-a-speeded-up-world.html
20. McCouat, P (2015) Art in A Speeded Up World Art in A Speeded Up World, Part 3: The ‘new’ time in painting, Available at: https://www.artinsociety.com/art-in-a-speeded-up-world.html
21. Klingsohr-Leroy, C (2015) Surrealism, p.66
22. Papastergiadis, N (2012) Space/Time: Matter and Motion in On Kawara, Available at: https://www.afterall.org/article/space_time_matter-and-motion-in-on-kawara
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24. Adler, D (2009) Hanne Darboven, Cultural History 1880 -1983
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29. Bretkelly-Chalmers, K (2019) Time, Duration and Change in Contemporary Art, p. 27
30. Cummings, A (2017) Art Time, Life Time, Tehching Hsieh, Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/research-centres/tate-research-centre-asia/event-report-tehching-hsieh
31. Cummings, A (2017) Art Time, Life Time, Tehching Hsieh, Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/research-centres/tate-research-centre-asia/event-report-tehching-hsieh
32. Groom, A (2013) Indifference and Repetition, Available at: http://ameliagroom.com/indifference-and-repetition
33. Cummings, A (2017) Art Time, Life Time, Tehching Hsieh, Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/research-centres/tate-research-centre-asia/event-report-tehching-hsieh
34. Cummings, A (2017) Art Time, Life Time, Tehching Hsieh, Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/research-centres/tate-research-centre-asia/event-report-tehching-hsieh
35. Marclay, C (2019) Five Ways Christian Marclay’s The Clock does more than just tell the time, Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/lists/five-ways-christian-marclays-clock-does-more-just-tell-time
36. O’Donnell, L (2020) Tick Of The Clock: A 24-Hour Supercut Of Time Displayed In Film And TV, Available at: https://www.watchonista.com/articles/opinions/tick-clock-24-hour-supercut-time-displayed-film-and-tv
37. Bradshaw, P (2018) “It’s impossible!” – Christian Marclay and the 24-hour Clock Made of Movie Clips, Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/sep/10/christian-marclay-the-clock-tate-modern-london
38. Holt, N (1977) Sun Tunnels, Available at: https://www.artforum.com/print/197704/sun-tunnels-35992
39. Holt Smith Foundation (2022), Sun Tunnels, Available at: https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/sun-tunnels
40. Bretkelly-Chalmers, K (2019) Time, Duration and Change in Contemporary Art: Beyond the Clock, p. 153
    

About the author

Pandora Wang is a London-based artist and curator. Her practice crosses photography, drawing, moving images, and installation. Pandora graduated with MA in Fine Art Drawing at Camberwell in 2022. More works of Pandora are available at:

Swanfall Gallery: https://www.swanfall.art/featured-artists-1/pandora-wang

Artist Website: https://doradorawd.wixsite.com/my-site

Instagram: @pandora_wang