TIME

The perception of time in visual arts has evolved in direct proportion to the sociological, psychological, philosophical, scientific, and technological developments in human history. Therefore, I would like to examine the concept of time within art and the changing definitions of time across different periods.

The understanding of time in ancient and medieval times differs significantly. In antiquity, Aristotle provides the best interpretation of the concept of time. According to Aristotle, time is divided into parts: the past, the future, and the present that stands between them. Hence, we can comfortably say that his definition of time centers on the present. The present moment is an entity that draws a boundary with the past and determines the future.

In the Middle Ages, however, this view changed entirely with Christianity. The concept of time as defined by Augustine, one of the thinkers of that period, evolved within the idea of creation ex nihilo, influenced by religion. According to him, time is a creation of God. Like all phenomena, time was created, and there was no “before” it, making it meaningless to question. God, the creator of all things, exists before and beyond all times; He is eternal and infinite.

The notions of time before modernity can be categorized as mythological time and metaphysical religious time. Mythological time is more aligned with the rhythm of nature. Factors such as the changing seasons, the emergence of effects, the cycle of light and dark, night and day, etc., establish this rhythm. Metaphysical time, however, is the time of monotheistic religions. Its rhythm does not follow nature but revolves around the emergence, life, death, and resurrection of prophets, as well as judgment on the Day of Judgment. This time is not determined by human life but is a construct designed by God for humans—unfolding outside of human control, immutable, commanding, and nonexistent without humankind.

With modernity, the concept of time changed profoundly. Technological advancements and the industrial revolution transformed time into a measurable, variable concept that could be controlled by humans, planned forward by individuals. The development of historical consciousness in the 19th century brought awareness of a timeline and history independent of religious chronology. Alongside this, the understanding that the artist's subjective inner emotional world carries its own rhythm enriched the concept of time. Thus, the subjective time of the artist attempting to capture objective time amidst the rapidly developing concept of objective time became one of the starting points for the various styles that emerged in modern art.

Between 1905 and 1912, Cubism introduced the concept of time as a fourth dimension to the third. Objects do not exist only in terms of width, height, and depth; they exist in time. The emergence of time as the fourth dimension is linked to Einstein's theory of relativity, which suggests that everything undergoes relative changes over time.

Today, the perception and use of time in art are highly multifaceted. Regarding this subject: "With the 20th century, the advances in technology and science have introduced the digital environment and the concept of virtual space into our lives. Naturally, this new mode of perception has also become a problematic issue for contemporary artists. Today, time and space have become intertwined. Space and time have both become virtual. In the age of globalization, space has lost its attachment and is now time." (Kara, 2017)

In this context, we can say that the treatment of the concept of time in visual art varies according to periods, influenced by the individual’s way of perceiving the external world and the connections between their subjective world and the objective world within the boundaries of this external world.