Abstract
Killing Time: The Experience of Ephemeral Contemporary Art
Practices
In The
Psychology of Time, Paul Fraisse tells us that we are only aware of time
when it appears distorted, moving either too quickly or slowly.[1] As with
much of human experience it is only when something is not right that we
consciously experience it. In order to understand our perception of time I will
explore boredom, which is an acute experience of time. In this paper I will
discuss ephemeral artworks that could be perceived as boring and explore the
possibility that the artists’ use of this strategy reflects a value shift that
is related to the loss of meaning associated with mourning. The ephemeral
artworks I will discuss do not offer entertainment or conventional aesthetic
enjoyment that allows the viewer to take pleasure in the evidence of the
artist’s skill, in fact many of these works are particularly devoid of skill or
can be seen as a failure of skill. However I will argue that Ephemeral Art
facilitates an experience of time that requires a working through boredom, it
requires engagement. This is the experience of time and art that necessitates
and offers delay. In much the same way as Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick describes
knowledge as performative i.e. ”knowledge does rather than simply is”; I would
suggest that boredom is also performative.[2] Boredom
does rather than is. Ephemeral Art offers boredom as a challenge: it challenges
us to feel, to experience time, to understand and to bear witness.
Dr. Mary O’Neill
moneill@lincoln.ac.uk
