The latest group exhibition co-organized by Beijing Times Art Museum and WAVELENGTH, “AT THE MOMENT” showcases works by 18 artists from China and abroad and it is divided into four acts for the audience. The exhibition will remain on view till June 14, 2021.
Exhibition View of the Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony for the Exhibition
PREFACE
TIME and SPACE are independent, but interdependent. Time has no end, and space has no boundaries. By the sense of time and space, we experience and perceive the material world. And by interacting with the world via our conscious and unconscious actions in a certain moment and space, we become one with the universe.
People use "Tenses" to measure the relationship between the moment of the event and the present. “At the Moment" is just one of the gazillions of events that humans interact with the universe. So are the art installations in the exhibition. However, differences in artistic themes, creative methods, expression techniques, and even the aesthetic behavior of the audience could give artworks the magic of traveling through spacetime. Art happening at the moment could burst out new vitality for different individuals, passing through this moment, leading them to feel different tenses.
At the moment, artists create a “temporal” theater of art, making art a medium that connecting different time and space, and taking artworks to break through the emotional tension which is caused by the limitation of time and space. The audience are unconsciously transformed into spacetime travellers, starting “at the moment”, traveling between different tenses, encountering experiences that are unique to them.
At the moment, the journey of spacetime has started, yet also ended. At the moment, we are here, yet also everywhere.
ACT I: PAST FUTURE TENSE
At the moment, the story of the past is being staged in its future.
Salt, air, ceramics, waves, carbon... the artists manipulate concrete materials, to inspire a sense of eternity through circular movements or to create a sense of sculptural aesthetics with immobility. The abstract collective perception of the audience in the exhibition space is depicted in art scenes, which establishes a connection with the audience's senses. With the eternal movements and the immobile sculptural scenes interacting with the viewers at the moment, audience seem to stop feeling the running direction of time, and “past”, “present” and “future” are all integrated as one. All the possibilities of the past takes place in these art scenes, in the form of "past future tense".
Exhibition View of "ACT I: PAST FUTURE TENSE
ACT II: PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE
Every moment, there are new stories happening. At the moment, it is no exception.
Light and shadow are visual fragments of time and space. Particularly arranged light and shadow will weave events and emotions at the specific moment in this specific space. Artists use various forms of light and shadow to construct a multi-dimensional theater of art phenomena that changes at any time in the space by fragmentation and reorganization of vision. The art space is flowing in the changes of light and shadow, as it is performing impromptu performances. In the ever-changing space of light and shadow, the audience is witnessing the evolution of art installations in “present continuous tense”, and feeling the instantaneous changes in emotions.
Exhibition View of "ACT II: PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE"
ACT III: SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE
If time and space stay still at the moment, the moment will become eternal.
How could we describe the shape of time and space with one state? The artists outline the space with breathing giant clouds and white balloons beyond the clouds, and make sand and stones depicting the fragments of legends, in order to represent the narrative changes of the art in spacetime. The invariable movement of the art installations obscures the audience’s perception of time, and presents “the moment” to viewers from the perspective of presentism and perennialism. Herein, the stories of time and space are described by the artworks in “simple present tense”.
Exhibition View of "ACT III: SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE"
ACT IV: FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE
At the moment, tomorrow has silently arrived.
The present will eventually become the past, and the future will always become the present. The progression of time and space to the future has always been an important theme of contemporary artistic practice. In the exhibition space, artists use multi-media artistic approaches to develop a romantic vision of human social landscape in the future. The forms of society, structure of nature and consciousness of mankind are aggregated in the multi-dimensional units, to shape an artistic mechanical landscape integrating virtuality and reality. The art installations bring tomorrow to the audience with “future continuous tense”, triggering the audience to think about the infinite possibilities of the future of contemporary art and human life.
Exhibition View of "ACT IV: FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE"About the exhibition
Courtesy of Beijing Times Art Museum and WAVELENGTH, for further information please visit http://www.timesartmuseum.com/.
