MOCA Jacksonville Urges Patrons to Look Slowly

The Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, a new host for Slow Art Day 2013, is exploring the concept of slow looking in an exhibition SLOW: Marking Time in Photography and Film that runs through April 7, 2013. Exploring the work of seven internationally known artists- Eve Sussman, Kota Ezawa, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Chris McCaw, Idris Khan, James Nares and David Claerbout- the museum challenges visitors to engage with the works for an extended period of time.

The exhibition features work that explores topics of time and duration through the fields of photography, film and video. In an age of mass production and instant gratification, the works in SLOW compliment and challenge one another as they confront typical perceptions of photography and the time-based restraints of a work of art.

Artists such as Eve Sussman and Sam Taylor-Wood give life to paintings past. Sussman, in 89 Seconds at Alcazar, animates the famous painting by Diego Velasquez, giving the viewer a look into the life of the painting’s characters before and after the composition. Along the same lines, Taylor-Wood, in Still Life, explores the work of the 17th century Dutch paintings by filming the decay of fruit plates, altering the viewer’s perception of time.

Other iconic videos that speak to one another are that of James Nares and David Claerbout. Nares’ Street, is a video work in which passersby seem to be frozen in time as the viewer moves along in real time whereas Claerbout’s work explores the relationships between the still photograph and the moving image, forcing the two to co-exist in his large, video installations.

The exhibition SLOW, also showcases the work of artists who explore different processes in photography such as Idris Khan’s appropriative work that consist of multiple layers, created the illusion of extended gestures and moments in time.  And, yet, the viewer’s sense of time continues to be affected with Chris McCaw’s sun-etched photographs that track the sun and Kota Ezawa’s cut paper assemblages of iconic photographs.

Curated by MOCA Jacksonville director, Marcelle Polednik, Ph.D. SLOW is the museum’s landmark exhibition for 2013. Of the exhibition, Polednik says, “Time is not only the conceptual thread that binds all the works in the exhibition together, but also the real dimension that connects us to these explorations, providing we devote the seconds, minutes, or even hours to see them unfold. In taking the time to fully engage with these photographs, films and video works, we gain infinitely more than the minutes we spend.”

If you are in the Jacksonville area, be sure to stop by the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville to see this exhibition for yourself. And don’t forget to take your time. We look forward to seeing what MOCA does on Slow Art Day to continue the dialogue they have started with SLOW: Marking Time in Photography and Film.

-Dana-Marie Lemmer, Global Coordinator