Slow Time and the Limits of Modernity

David Ebony

In its exploration of the term "modern," the word's meaning and relationship to the elusive present, Fredric Jameson's recent book, A Singular Modernity: Essay on the Ontology of the Present¹ suggests a spirited correspondence with works by Craigie Horsfield, whose art encompasses photography, conceptual pieces and collaborative projects centered on the notion of "slow time." Perhaps generally characterized as the interrelationship of past, present and future, slow time is a concept related to historian Fernand Braudel's writings on "slow history," which Horsfield has modified and applied to his own work. Alluding to the nearly imperceptible evolutions in everyday life, slow history and slow time lie beneath the surface of culture and contrast with the high-paced changes dominating the surface, especially in a capitalist society.

[...]

Horsfield's photos may indicate a distant time and place, but they are always part of a profound present. A striking 1995 study of a rhinoceros, for example, may suggest the vast number of years that this now-endangered species has roamed the earth. But the photo exists only in the present as an image in slow time of a certain animal in the Oxford Zoo. Similarly, a 1996 photograph of a machinist in Krakow shows a woman seated at a cumbersome-looking machine in a factory. At first, the photo seems part of a study of Soviet industry in the 1950s, as the figure appears to embody the slow history of generations. The image also suggests in some way a symbiotic relationship between the human and the mechanical. The work may be self-referential as well, since it constantly alludes to photography's mechanical process. Here, by means of the photograph, the artist locates history within the present, as an expression of the present.

[...]


 
1. Jameson, Fredric, A Singular Modernity: Essay on the Ontology of the Present, New York, Verso, 2002.

Art: Craigie Horsfield , Klub Pod Jaszczurami, Rynek Glowny, Krakow, February 1976, b & w photograph, 271 x 278 cm, 1991
Al. J.Brodzka, Krakow, June 1994, b & w photograph, 140.5 x 140.5 cm, 1996
courtesy of the artist

Excerpt from the actual article - in the printed edition. For information about subscribing to Lacanian Ink click here. If you do not wish to subscribe but would like information about buying the back issue containing this article click here.