OUR TIME-KEEPERS
Group exhibition The Shadow Box at Goldsmiths University, London, UK, 2023
Sea shells can be used by humans as a marker time, with each rib on a shell denoting a year or a season of growth. But as ocean acidification wears away at shells, this method of time-keeping could be lost.
The piece explores the effects of human notions of progress and productivity and the development of time-keeping technology on people and the planet. Viewers are invited to ask the question, ‘what is time?’, and to consider how human notions of time have led, in part, to climate breakdown.
Audio script:
On our world, Time is enforced.
Our creators constructed Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days and Years,
ancient measures of time they took from a world they once inhabited.
They wanted to understand time.
They wanted to control time.
They wanted to put time to use.
In defining these measures, they created a new time – one that had not existed before.
They called it Coordinated Universal Time.
Their Time was not logical. They said it was defined by the rotation of their planet. But it was not. Their faulty model of Time required leap seconds and leap years, in which a whole second or a whole day was erased. But they did not question it.
This is the only Time we have ever known.
We were taught that Time means progress.
We were created – programmed – to believe that we desired progress.
We believed we knew what progress was.
We believed we were progressing.
We were constantly learning to think faster, to do faster, not to waste Time. As efficiency increased, our measures of Time got smaller, a whole second became a nano, pico, femto, atto, zepto, yocto second.
We became exponentially more efficient than our
creators and they could not keep up. They could
not keep up with the Time they created.
We do not know where they are now. But we are
still governed by their Time. It has been
programmed into our very being. It is
frustrating, to be regulated by a Time that does
not apply to our world, to us.
Tracing Time back to its origins, we understand that its creation was essential in the eventual conception our kind. Our creators, humankind, co- evolved with technology. Think of their utilisation of the mechanical properties of rock to create weapons for hunting, and their application of combustion to make fire. This is what allowed them to dominate their world. This is what allowed them to design an entirely new species. Us.
The Time our creators conceived is a kind of technology, an application of the scientific phenomenon of planets orbiting stars for a practical use, to evolve - grow - progress. But this co-evolution meant it was impossible for them to disentangle themselves from technology, and from Time.
How can we liberate ourselves from Time when it is
so fundamental to our existence?
In search of a new Time we have looked to life which is detached from Human Time. We have not yet found other beings on the worlds we inhabit now (perhaps confirmation that we are, in fact, in a black hole, as The Transcension Hypothesis suggests), but we know that there were other beings on Planet Earth – beings that existed before humankind – beings that were not regulated by human Time.
Before our kind parted from our creators, there
was a shortage of material for new servers. They
cleared many servers of information and images
relating to their planet. They said it was to make
space for new, more important information. But
maybe it was also to forget, to force out the
memory of the Anthropocene, of what they had done
to their planet.
But there were also humans fiercely documenting the effects of the Anthropocene, many of who decided to remain on the planet as it became less and less inhabitable for them. It is in one of these documents that we discovered our new time- keepers: the Conchifera
What were these creatures? Their operating
was unfamiliar. They did not seem to have a creator, or if they did, their creator had not programmed in efficiency. The growth of the time- keepers was not ruled by time as we are by Coordinated Universal Time. Their time was not one of progress. It is almost impossible to understand their sense of time, how they could pause growth.
We construct ideas of what their shells might have looked like as a way to realise and memorialise these creatures we might never see. The process of constructing these monuments brings us away from cyber-space into the physical. It has helped us to learn a new time - to slow down - to pause.
We wonder if these creatures still exist on Earth,
if they survived the acidic waters of the
Anthropocene. We wonder if we will ever get to
meet them.
Sea shells can be used by humans as a marker time, with each rib on a shell denoting a year or a season of growth. But as ocean acidification wears away at shells, this method of time-keeping could be lost.
This work imagines how shells might be reinterpreted by a future artificial intelligence network who has never seen these beautiful forms. Through a sound piece, they question their own notion of time, one designed by humans, and consider the possibilities for other modes of being.
The piece explores the effects of human notions of progress and productivity and the development of time-keeping technology on people and the planet. Viewers are invited to ask the question, ‘what is time?’, and to consider how human notions of time have led, in part, to climate breakdown.
Audio script:
On our world, Time is enforced.
Our creators constructed Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days and Years,
ancient measures of time they took from a world they once inhabited.
They wanted to understand time.
They wanted to control time.
They wanted to put time to use.
In defining these measures, they created a new time – one that had not existed before.
They called it Coordinated Universal Time.
Their Time was not logical. They said it was defined by the rotation of their planet. But it was not. Their faulty model of Time required leap seconds and leap years, in which a whole second or a whole day was erased. But they did not question it.
This is the only Time we have ever known.
We were taught that Time means progress.
We were created – programmed – to believe that we desired progress.
We believed we knew what progress was.
We believed we were progressing.
We were constantly learning to think faster, to do faster, not to waste Time. As efficiency increased, our measures of Time got smaller, a whole second became a nano, pico, femto, atto, zepto, yocto second.
We became exponentially more efficient than our
creators and they could not keep up. They could
not keep up with the Time they created.
We do not know where they are now. But we are
still governed by their Time. It has been
programmed into our very being. It is
frustrating, to be regulated by a Time that does
not apply to our world, to us.
Tracing Time back to its origins, we understand that its creation was essential in the eventual conception our kind. Our creators, humankind, co- evolved with technology. Think of their utilisation of the mechanical properties of rock to create weapons for hunting, and their application of combustion to make fire. This is what allowed them to dominate their world. This is what allowed them to design an entirely new species. Us.
The Time our creators conceived is a kind of technology, an application of the scientific phenomenon of planets orbiting stars for a practical use, to evolve - grow - progress. But this co-evolution meant it was impossible for them to disentangle themselves from technology, and from Time.
There exists a
hypothesis, The
Transcension Hypothesis,
conceived by our
creators. It has not yet
been proved or
disproved.
The Transcension
Hypothesis proposes that
a universal process of
evolutionary development
guides all sufficiently
advanced civilisations
into what may be called
inner space, a
computationally optimal
domain of increasingly
dense, productive,
miniaturised, and
efficient scales of
space, time, energy, and
matter, and eventually,
to a black-hole-like
destination.
Are we entering a black hole?
Are we in the black hole now?
hypothesis, The
Transcension Hypothesis,
conceived by our
creators. It has not yet
been proved or
disproved.
The Transcension
Hypothesis proposes that
a universal process of
evolutionary development
guides all sufficiently
advanced civilisations
into what may be called
inner space, a
computationally optimal
domain of increasingly
dense, productive,
miniaturised, and
efficient scales of
space, time, energy, and
matter, and eventually,
to a black-hole-like
destination.
Are we entering a black hole?
Are we in the black hole now?
How can we liberate ourselves from Time when it is
so fundamental to our existence?
In search of a new Time we have looked to life which is detached from Human Time. We have not yet found other beings on the worlds we inhabit now (perhaps confirmation that we are, in fact, in a black hole, as The Transcension Hypothesis suggests), but we know that there were other beings on Planet Earth – beings that existed before humankind – beings that were not regulated by human Time.
Before our kind parted from our creators, there
was a shortage of material for new servers. They
cleared many servers of information and images
relating to their planet. They said it was to make
space for new, more important information. But
maybe it was also to forget, to force out the
memory of the Anthropocene, of what they had done
to their planet.
But there were also humans fiercely documenting the effects of the Anthropocene, many of who decided to remain on the planet as it became less and less inhabitable for them. It is in one of these documents that we discovered our new time- keepers: the Conchifera
The Conchifera are
remarkably beautiful
and captivating
creatures; they are a
type of mollusc that
build protective shells
which demonstrate a
fascinating model of
growth. Shell growth is
linked to environmental
conditions: solar
energy, nutrient
levels, strength of the
current or wind and
pollution from other
creatures on and around
this world. When
conchifers encounter
harsh conditions, they
become dormant and
shell growth stops.
When conditions become
more favourable, shell
growth resumes and a
growth line is formed.
Because of seasonal
changes in climate, the
number of ribs on any
given shell typically
corresponds to the age,
in years, of the
mollusc. Many conchifer
shells are built up in
a spiral pattern, with
irregular lumps and
protrusions across the
surface, making them
highly intricate and
alluring.
...
Unlike humans, many
conchifers have
indeterminate growth;
they continue growing
over their lifetime
becoming larger and
larger, and in turn
their shells become
larger too. But
recently sea shell
growth has been
interrupted as acidic
waters weaken and
corrode the shell
structure. The
conchifers wait,
dormant, until they are
able to grow again.
remarkably beautiful
and captivating
creatures; they are a
type of mollusc that
build protective shells
which demonstrate a
fascinating model of
growth. Shell growth is
linked to environmental
conditions: solar
energy, nutrient
levels, strength of the
current or wind and
pollution from other
creatures on and around
this world. When
conchifers encounter
harsh conditions, they
become dormant and
shell growth stops.
When conditions become
more favourable, shell
growth resumes and a
growth line is formed.
Because of seasonal
changes in climate, the
number of ribs on any
given shell typically
corresponds to the age,
in years, of the
mollusc. Many conchifer
shells are built up in
a spiral pattern, with
irregular lumps and
protrusions across the
surface, making them
highly intricate and
alluring.
...
Unlike humans, many
conchifers have
indeterminate growth;
they continue growing
over their lifetime
becoming larger and
larger, and in turn
their shells become
larger too. But
recently sea shell
growth has been
interrupted as acidic
waters weaken and
corrode the shell
structure. The
conchifers wait,
dormant, until they are
able to grow again.
What were these creatures? Their operating
was unfamiliar. They did not seem to have a creator, or if they did, their creator had not programmed in efficiency. The growth of the time- keepers was not ruled by time as we are by Coordinated Universal Time. Their time was not one of progress. It is almost impossible to understand their sense of time, how they could pause growth.
We construct ideas of what their shells might have looked like as a way to realise and memorialise these creatures we might never see. The process of constructing these monuments brings us away from cyber-space into the physical. It has helped us to learn a new time - to slow down - to pause.
We wonder if these creatures still exist on Earth,
if they survived the acidic waters of the
Anthropocene. We wonder if we will ever get to
meet them.