To me, ‘time’ is like a river, a continuous circular movement that gives us a natural example of how to treat this concept in our busy world. Our current society is time-driven and every second seems to have a need to be spent well.

In the 14th century the hour-clock was invented. In 1700 clocks started having minute-hands and by 1800 most clocks also had second-hands. This development has forced us into becoming time-managers. In today’s world the focus is on short-term thinking, with focus on growth. Almost everything is impacted or decided by the here and now and by the profit of now.

According to philosopher Roman Krznaric, we should “look beyond the tyranny of the now” and try to “develop a sense of deep time”. In doing so, we become aware of our interconnectedness with nature and with one another. Then we also will be able to develop a more ‘sacred’ idea about the place we inhabit. “We should let go of our short-term-ism and focus on the long-term effects of our decision making and the way we live.”

As in the poem of the river, we are all inheritors of our history. Krznaric emphasizes that Western culture has become divorced from “the great chain of ancestors” and therefore has “lost connection with past and future generations.”

My work fits into this way of thinking; not only because the making of the work itself is very time-consuming and according to ‘market-values’ my ‘time-investment’ is by no means profitable, but also because the slowness of creating my work precisely relates to the idea that time in the fullness of its meaning, is of essence.

Time has become a commodity and I believe we should re-think time because we have a great need for “unvalued” time, unprofitable time, even “useless” time.

These types of time offers us moments of stillness or a possibility for stillness; to be able to listen and see things afresh. Treating time differently in a way that allows us to be “useless” and unprofitable brings us freedom, and will be the catalyst for reconnecting with universal questions such as the meaning of life and death, the place we inhabit and how we treat our world and each other.