Michal Kindernay: Calendarium Cæli MMXIX
in collaboration with: Sára Vybíralová
25. 5. – 17. 6. 2020
curator: Gabriela Kotiková
text: Mariana Serranová
We require just a little order to protect us from chaos.
(Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, What is Philosophy?, 1994)
The word “order”, actually is misleading: we are not speaking of order, we are in fact speaking of rhythm.
A new rhythm is what humankind needs.
(Franco „Bifo“ Berardi, Breathing, Chaos and Poetry, 2018)
In western understanding, social time, as opposed to astronomical time, is postulated as reality, as well as fiction. It is determined by the rhythm of collective life within the space delineated by society. As such, it is independent on the homogenic, uniform and continual astronomical time. In his work Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness, Henri Bergson, places in contrast the „inner“ qualitative time and the „outer“ quantitative time. The topic of time defined by our consciousness as duration is later treated by psychology as physiological or biological time, while other concepts emphasize the multiplicity of sociocultural time.
In the undertone of the endless discourse about temporality in the previous century, there is a palpable effort to gain control over the flow of time, while the discomfort from the political dimension of time in a schedule dictated by the social system constitutes an independent chapter. Félix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze opened their schizophrenic cards on the field of metaphysical antagonism of cosmos and chaos. Their creativity aspiring, Chaosmosis, articulates the paradigm of nonlinear time in the spirit of the new millennium. They match the controllable principle of chaos to the welcomed challenge of searching for harmony and new order.
The project Calendarium Cæli originated as a time-lapse of the transforming sky. It empathetically connects the accidentalness of the human body and the cyclical rhythm it transcends. The timing continuity and open multiplicity is an intentionally important dimension of this project. Michal Kindernay uses an image composition to map the astronomical year, the result of which is a consequent synthesis of 24 hours, 12 months, and 365 days. One day in the vertical diagram consists of 4,320 images, while the full year consists of 1,576,800 images. The chronological order of the calendar days documents the development of light and wind conditions, as well as humidity throughout the whole year.
The project sound track consists of a collection of recordings in random order produced by the co-author of the project, Sára Vybíralová. The existing number of recordings increases during the exhibition, by including other visitors, reaching the symbolic total of 365. The voices of the participants speak about specifically dated events of the past year that had a personal meaning for them. The objectively and passively observed time that takes place “above”, is linked with the year that is subjective, random, and emotive.
Michal Kindernay’s concentrated interest in topics such as the climate, the weather, and time is not new to him. For example, in his last year’s projection for the exhibition Till Something Happens (GAMU, 2019), the artist introduced a time-lapse projection of the sky, which reaches an astounding compression in the project Calendarium Cæli. The authentic hollow sound, as if from space, and the mathematically exact projection create a contrast with the diverse and emotively coloured messages carrying various content. The invitation to participate offers a new significant dimension to the sky above Prague – a transformation occurs on its background, and the single event becomes history.
Mariana Serranová
(transl. Vanda Krutsky)
The program of the Jeleni Gallery is possible through kind support of Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Prague City Council, State Fund of Culture of the Czech Republic, City District Prague 7
Partners: Kostka stav
Media support: ArtMap, jlbjlt.net, UMA: You Make Art
