Turn Back Now? Anachronies, temporal, and chronological layering in visual arts
ONLINE EVENT
The ‘now’ as an insoluble moment of time from which we perceive our world is a key element in the temporal structuring of experience. Its indexical quality opens a discourse centered around notions of the contemporary or the present to the agents involved in experiencing and producing art. Being only one among multiple ideas on how to conceive structures of time, the perspective of presentism yet unfolds the difficulties we face in the interpretation of other times in artworks. Turn Back Now? asks when and how contemporary art reaches back in history, changes the perception of past or present, and how viewers are affected by these gestures.
The research workshop fosters exchange between different approaches to these issues and emphasizes the need for methodologies covering the questions
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How are historical, anachronic, and other temporal references framed or produced within artworks?
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Are there any medium-specific ways of anachronies and temporal layering?
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Can we understand these means as inherently temporal and how could we use this way of
seeing artworks for art historical interpretation?
Organized and hosted by: Maximilian Lehner and Ilaria Hoppe
Supported by: Bischöflicher Fonds der KU Linz, Günther-Rombold-Privatstiftung, Österreichische Forschungsgemeinschaft
24th of September
11:45 – 12:45 via Zoom
Eva Kernbauer (Professor of Art History, University of Applied Arts, Vienna)
The Future of Anachronism
With a focus on the work of R.H. Quaytman, this talk will pursue contemporary art’s use of the
potential of anachronism to “change time“, in the sense of shaping our perception of how past,
present and future relate to each other. Quaytman’s practice is strong in connecting and balancing
incompatible temporal layers, thus opening up not only new aspects of art history, but also new
“spaces of experience“ (Koselleck) as key elements of historical thinking.
kunstgeschichte@uni-ak.ac.at for the Zoom-Link