Capricious texture of time in awareness and art

Jan Koenderink*, Baingio Pinna, Andrea Van Doorn

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

We present a speculative account of lived-time at the level of sentience as distinct from sapience. It implies refraining from reference to clock-time. The account is necessarily in terms of meaning. Thus, familiar concepts such as the specious moment, retention and protention mechanisms are reevaluated. Lived-time does not have a 'time-line topology'. It has a volatile, irregular texture rather than a sequential linear order. Indeed, lived-time is necessarily an articulate moment, because awareness is not extended, but here-and-now. Thus, Gestalts in static images often have temporal qualities. Yet they can hardly reflect clock-time, as they are 'frozen happenings'. This applies to many works of art. We especially focus on painting, sculpture and cinema. Narrative structures in the arts have a close similarity to lived-time. Thus, the analyses of the arts and of visual awareness, including daydreams and dreams, mutually illuminate each other. Our account rides the edge that separates sentience from sapience.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)188-236
Number of pages49
JournalArt and Perception
Volume8
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2020

Keywords

  • Cinematic narrative
  • Clock-time
  • Lived-time
  • Time in art
  • Time in painting
  • Time in sculpture

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