Le Temps pris

"Postulate the passage of a chrono phobia, manifested by an attraction for eternity". By just reading the introduction, where there is talk of operationality and antidualism, one gets scared more than once. Luckily what follows is a lot easier to read. In order to study how important the passing of time is for contemporary artists, Christine Macel, an exhibition commissioner at the Centre Pompidou, chose ten. None of them think of giving shape to the time that passes by representing the speed of light in a void (except for Cerith Wyn Evans, who wrote it on a neon light). From Gabriel Orozco who built an observatory copied from ancient Indians to Roman Signer who consumes rockets, from Anri Sala who reinvents the soundtrack of an old family movie to Philippe Parreno who creates characters who have the gift of growing younger, and one of them has a method to prove that only the past and the future exist, while the present is simply a metamorphosis. The author tells anecdotes and gives concrete examples of works of art, the most delectable regards Raymond Hains, "minister of his own culture", who collected his souvenirs on filing cards and threw his shirt away each day.

• Le Temps pris by Christine Macel, Monografik editions / Centre Pompidou, 2008, 184 p., 25 €, ISBN : 978-2-916545-61-5