We used to think of time as a constant value. A vector moving from the past to the future. This so-called stable system is the basis of all life in the world. However, we can assume that it is not an axiom, but one of many concepts related to the structure of our universe. In nature, in our senses, and even in history as we know it, one often finds strange inconsistencies which suggest a different character and structure for the "stable" temporal system.

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In his experimental research, the prominent Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kozyrev developed a new concept—time density.  Presumably, time density depends on the processes taking place in nature. Kozyrev tried to prove that the processes associated with a decrease in entropy (e.g. the beginning of blossoming of apple trees in orchards, heat, light, etc.) weaken the time density around them, i.e. as if they absorb time. On the contrary, the density of time is increased and therefore radiated outwards by processes involving an increase in entropy (withering of matter, storms and thunderstorms, loud noises, conflicts, etc.). So it turns out that through their processes, actions, creativity, and emotions, nature and human beings themselves construct the flow and speed of time.

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In their project, Elena Gubanova and Ivan Govorkov sought to find a visual expression for Kozyrev's experiments. Above the screen of floating clouds, the artists placed a round clock from the Soviet era, connected to the surface of the screen by light sensors.

The white clouds floating on the screen are a metaphor for society, with its search for happiness, its problems, and its fears. At the same time, they represent nature, with its tranquility and sudden cataclysms. The hands of the clock slow down when the light sensor captures on video a snow-white cloud moving across the sky, a symbol of happiness. Time is "absorbed". And they speed up, "radiating" time when the space of entropy and stagnation appears on the screen in the form of fragments of black sky.

Project website

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