This set illustrates a handful of responses to the following questions:
AUDIENCES: Educators may present this Set in a classroom to accompany a facilitated discussion of the themes above. Additionally, this Set serves a general art patron interested in connecting art and visual culture to the concept of passing time as it is experienced at the New Year.
CONTEXT FOR 'Asking Art' SETS: This Set is part of Asking Art, a series of resources that connect works of art to the lives we live.
Before we look at any works of art, let's take a look at ourselves. The desire to record and play back one's self is a desire shared by millions on YouTube. This video, made by stitching together a year's worth of photos, gets us thinking about how we conceive of ourselves changing through time.
What happens over the course of a year? What kinds of experiences do we accumulate in 365 days? From January through December, some things stay pretty much the same while other things change, transform, and renew.
We use the year as convenient handle on time, a marker that divides time into smaller chunks. The New Year is an opportunity to think about where we've been and where we're going. Who we've been in the past and who we resolve to be in the future. How we've come to experience loss and how we continue to cherish hopes. The New Year represents the beginnings and endings that make up our lives.
Video by Jon Victorino, courtesy YouTube
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Marking time is something we all do. To do so, we use physical tools such as diaries, calendars, and clocks. And we partake in rituals, like reading the daily news and counting down the seconds to midnight on New Year's Eve.
Artist On Kawara combined physical and ritual ways of marking time in his TODAY series, pictured left. Each date painting represents a full day's labor, giving physical form to the concept of time.
Right: Video by qbossUK, courtesy YouTube
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Like On Kawara, artist Jim Hodges also uses the measurement of time in his art-making process. Art made in this way has the power to accentuate the dailiness of our lives.
This artwork has a humble appearance—unframed napkins of varying sizes, shapes, and tones of white are pinned to the wall. Onto each napkin, the artist has sketched a flower using a common ballpoint pen. The overall effect is a kind of visual poem, each napkin representing a day with a loved one. Using delicate materials and the faithful, diaristic gesture, the artist contemplates ideas of fragility and tenderness, love, loss, and the passing of time.
Photo by Roman Königshofer, courtesy Flickr
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In the Northern hemisphere, New Year's Day roughly marks the time of year when our days begin to lengthen and we welcome the coming light. The temporary nature of light is frequently used by artists to symbolize spirit and life.
According to the artist's instructions, this work can be displayed with either all of the bulbs light or dark. Even as the string is illuminated, the artwork's title, Last Light, reminds us that no light is everlasting.
This artwork by Felix Gonzalez-Torres is most often interpreted as a meditation on loss—the conclusion of a life or a moment in time. This work could also suggest a solemn beauty in the act of letting go. The artist makes peace and moves forward with courage, allowing the past to fade at an undetermined pace. The artist is letting go in order to welcome the new.
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The notion of time passing can be embodied by kinetic art. In the artwork pictured on the left, a pump mechanism on the floor slowly inflates and deflates a circular piece of stretched mylar, making the mirrored surface convex and concave. In the sculpture pictured on the right, a small fountain propells a thin stream of water, which ceaselessly splashes and ripples in the reservoir.
Like the moving hands of a clock face, we might imagine that the moving elements of these sculptures are measuring out time.
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In our daily lives, we experience time not only in the passing of moments, but also in the recollection of memories. Art can trigger memory by stimulating the senses. Take for example this work by Yayoi Kusama titled Passing Winter.
Peering into this cube made of mirrors, one is surprised by the view (see right photo). The circular holes in the box's sides result in the visual display of dots, suspended in mid-air and diminishing in size into the distance. The vision might evoke the memory of a winter wonderland with infinately many snow flakes drifting downward.
Photos by Marshall Astor, courtesy Flickr
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Many of us have New Year's memories of counting down to midnight as the Times Square ball drop is broadcast on television. The crowd's anticipatory energy is focused on the spectacle of the lowering ball and glittering fireworks.
Gazing up at the exuberant shapes of Sunburst (left) by artist Dale Chihuly might evoke such a memory.
Right: Photo by asterix611, courtesy Flickr
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New Year's is a time when memories rise to the surface, mingling with our experience of the present moment. We share stories about the year that's ending. We re-enact traditions and reminisce about seasons past.
But the New Year is also a time of renewal and new beginnings. It's a chance to supplant old expectations with a new vision. It's an opportunity to surprise ourselves by seeing the world with fresh eyes.
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ABOUT THIS SET: This Set is part of Asking Art, a series of resources that connect works of art to the lives we live. This Set was built around the questions,
COLLABORATOR-AUTHORS: Abbie A, Courtney G, Bianka P, Marvel G, Kathy S, Katie H
USE THIS SET AS A MODEL: This Set was built collaboratively. Adapt the following co-creation activity for your group of learners: Participants use Art Finder to choose works of art that resonate with their personal experiences of a specific occasion. (In this example Set, the occasion is the New Year.) Participants write statements to support their selections and share their reflections with others.
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