FIFTY
ARTIST'S EXHIBITION STATEMENT"How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flown. How did it get so late so soon?"
― Dr. Seuss
Time is a fundamental dimension of the human experience. We use it to coordinate our lives, organise our memories and to make plans. Culturally we think of time as an unstoppable linear flow. Although a problematic concept in physics, we have perfected measuring it, and developed a refined "sense of time" as a mandatory tool for a healthy personal life and professional success.
Our subjective experience of time is however very different from how time is measured. Psychologists and social scientists agree that our experience of time speeds up with age. In a recent scientific study published in the "European Review," Professor Adrian Bejan presented an argument based on the physics of neural signal processing. He hypothesized that, over time, the rate at which we process visual information slows down, and that this is what makes time "speed up" as we grow older.
He argues that: "As we age, the size and complexity of the networks of neurons in our brains increases – electrical signals must traverse greater distances and thus signal processing takes more time. Moreover, ageing causes our nerves to accumulate damage that provides resistance to the flow of electric signals, further slowing processing time." Focusing on visual perception, Bejan suggests that slower processing times result in us perceiving fewer "frames-per-second" – more actual time passes between the perception of each new mental image. This is what leads to time passing more rapidly.
It is within this context that Corné Eksteen, who is turning 50, explores his own personal subjective experience of time speeding up. He uses the number 50 and all its contemporary and pop culture associations as inspiration for a body of work that reflects on 5 decades of lived experience and memory. Visually, the work explores the notion of less "frames-per-second."
FIFTY
IMPORTANT DATES28.10.2023 | 11H00
Official opening of "FIFTY" at
Art in the Yard Gallery,
Shop 1, Heritage Square,
9 Huguenot Street, Franschhoek.
28.10.2023 | 12H30
Official release of exhibition catalogue, artist's notes and work analysis online at xtn50.art
17.11.2023 | 18H00
Exhibition concludes at Art in the Yard Gallery, Franschhoek.
FIFTY
EXHIBITION CATALOGUE50 Flavours of entanglement
Oil on canvas | 100 x 100cm50 Second Time-lapse
Oil on canvas | 80 x 80cm50 Buitenkant Street
Oil on canvas | 50 x 50cmFifty sunset walks on Marine Parade
Oil on canvas | 50 x 50cmFifty taxi rides in Manhatten
Oil on canvas | 50 x 50cmMMXXIII.L
Oil on canvas | 80 x 80cmAnachronism IV
Oil on canvas | 100 x 100cmAnachronism V
Oil on canvas | 100 x 100cm50 Shades of Ultramarine
Oil on canvas | 100 x 100cmDouble Helix
Oil on canvas | 120 x 170cmRead an editorial on "FIFTY"
Oct/Nov 2023 ArtTimes on ISSUU
FIFTY
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Works available from AITY until 31 January 2024.
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