The Mirror of Time

The ever faster advancement of technological
development from the onset of the industrial revolution to the present day
makes us re-evaluate our understanding of certain key notions, such as time,
history and art. For Aristotle, time was just a number of motions in respect to
“before” and “after”, whilst in the contemporary world of both reality and
virtual reality, the absolute speed of “time” becomes a significantly more
complex category that sometimes exceeds human control or even perception and
alters our understanding of time.

In his work
Open Sky, Paul Virilio claims that contemporary world time is elongated to
the dimensions of world space, and brings to our screens a different regime of
temporality, which reproduces neither the chronographic sequence of our clock
dial nor a chronological sequence of history. The present is constantly evading
us because it is only perceived as an exposition of events that happen at the
speed of light. Constant transformations of our social and political
environment, the intertwining of the real and the virtual, the dimensions of
time and space – and finally, also the dimensions of the human body, social
roles and issues of identity and gender – inevitably affect the construction of
the “everyday” for both an individual as well as society as a whole.

The notion of time in contemporary
society is a complex issue relating to everything that exists, everything that
was and everything that will be. Consequently, the premise behind the concept
of the international group exhibition The
Mirror of Time is limited and focused on particular issues - some
specifically female and others more universal - that tackle personal, social
and historical reflections on questions that can be analyzed through the
perspective of temporality. Thus, some works focus on the female body, exposed
to constant physical and physiological changes, addressing our intimate
relationship to our own body, its supposed faults and "errors" as
well as the phenomenon of ageing and the transience of life.

How do we prepare for old age? How
do we confront ageing in society obsessed with eternal youth? Why are women
subjected to strict aesthetic norms that dictate a faultless or perfect
appearance, an ultimatum for women of all generations, including mature women?
Why are physical transformations that go with ageing, a taboo and not desired
by people? These are only a few central issues of the exhibition.

In addition, we were also interested
in subjects relating to the system of social values deeply rooted in misogyny,
and investigating the effects of discriminatory thinking from both a social and
economic perspective. For example: Why do insurance companies award lower
pensions to women than their male counterparts? What are the mechanisms that
humiliate and devalue women? In short, we were interested in artworks that
oppose such social norms that distinguish themselves by reflecting on intimate
experiences in confronting time, in personal poetics and autobiographical
records, as well as socially critical works addressing the cases of either open
or hidden gender/age-based discrimination.

Mara Vujić, Artistic
Director of the 18^th
Internationational Festival of Contemporary Arts – City of Women

PROGRAMME
AT THE ŠKUC GALLERY

Thursday,
October 4th
8
pm / Škuc Gallery, Opening of the international group exhibition The Mirror of Time curated by Mara Vujić
/ with:
Rocío Boliver: Time Goes By
Nicola Canavan: Bittersweet
Vlasta Delimar: Preparing for Old Age (Pripremanje za starost)
Elena Fajt: Punishment Without a Crime (Kazen brez zločina)
Fokus Grupa: Citati.Plakate

Barbara Hammer: A Horse Is Not a Metaphor, Diving Women of Jeju-Do
Martine Neddam: Turkmenbashi, My Love (Turkmenbashi, mon amour)
Marija Mojca Pungerčar: Mortality Table (Tablice smrtnosti), Socialdress service
Marta Vergonyós: Transmissions

8.30 pm / Škuc Gallery, performance by Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen / Afghan Hound, 20'
9.30 pm / Škuc Gallery, performance by Nicola Canavan / Bittersweet, 20'

Tuesday, October 9th
5 – 7 pm / Socialdress service

Wednesday, October 10th
1 – 3 pm / Socialdress service

Thursday, October 11th
5 – 7 pm / Socialdress service

Friday, October 12th
5 – 7 pm / Socialdress service

Saturday, October 13th
5 – 7 pm / Socialdress service

Organisation: City of Women; In collaboration with: Škuc Gallery.