Suspension of presence : an exploration of the interconnectedness of the body, space and time

This research is an investigation into the interconnectedness of the body, space and time. My interest lies in the balance between these elements, in their inherent influence over one another, and in the poss1b1lity that I can manipulate this balance Specifically, my project explores the idea that physical movement - the negotiation of the body though space - can be employed as a way to effect the experience of time. These ideas have been pursued in the making of a series of large scale structures - spaces 1 - that I have used to physically enact and experience this relationship. I have used the term \space\" throughout this paper in describing the objects I have made This word 1s intended to signify two things: The air-filled space located inside the structures I have made that my body occupies in the making process. And the space of the materials that form these structures (e g. plaster-filled space) that I force my body to engage with by wearing my movements into. I see these as synonymous and use the word \"space\" to refer to them simultaneously. I have placed my body in an intense engagement with these structures performing repetitive movements inside of and into the materials that form them. I intend my own interaction in the visual traces 1t leaves in the structures to generate a consideration of this relationship in the viewer. The focus for this proiect stems from personal everyday experiences of negotiating my own body through space. In moving through air water and spaces defined by architecture I found an inconsistency in the experience of time these places offer Surrounding isolating spaces that affected the movements of my body - such as water - made it seem that time was passing more slowly than it did in moving through open air. This inconsistency led to a questioning of my own perception of time as being formed of fm1te fleeting moments - a perception that separates and fractures the present self from past moments and experiences Desiring to overcome this fracturing I was driven to find an experience of time devoid of the structure imposed by the sequential passing of moments. This experience came to be formed of both the manufacture of space and the development of a specific physical working method. I have looked to the following sources to form a foundation for the research. My perception of time was expanded by Frances Yates' The Art of Memory Henn Bergson's Theory of Pure Durat10n Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse Five and Samuel Beckett's allegedly autobiographical Company. These sources express the possibility of perceiving time as whole and of being able to negotiate it wilfully akm to physically negotiating space. Company as well as early work by Robert Morris and structures by Bruce Nauman also provided examples of varying expressions of manufactured space and its engagement of the body Beckett as well as the early video work of Nauman my own experiences of swimming several collaborative works by Marina Abramovic and Ulay and the movie Gerry directed by Gus Van Sant formed an understanding of the physical tactics (exhaustion repetition restriction rhythm) I used in conjunction with manufactured space to affect time. The written exegesis records my exploration of these sources and their relevance to my own ideas. The outcome of the research is documented by the objects included in the exhibition They reveal the gradual progression towards a surrounding and restrictive space evidence the physical process that took place inside them and expose these two elements as generative of a suspension of time."