Time on my hands 能自由支配自己的时间是幸福的, 对于荷兰海牙艺术家René Coelho和冰岛吉他音乐人Runar来说更是深有感触. 时间不仅仅是他们创作的灵感源泉, 随着技术的进步, 它也越来越多地成为一种艺术体现工具. By Lily Photos by Yao Fan

Walking into Dutch artist Rene Coelho's exhibition at CEAC, you get the feeling that you are in a beautiful garden full of blooming flowers. Tulips in bright yellows and silky pinks, unknown wild buds in tender green...the colors of four seasons in the tranquil French countryside. There are altogether five series of his works on display, three of which directly deal with time: The Flowers of 2003; Self-Portrait (1950-2000); A Walk around the House.

Looking back over the past 40 years of his life in different fields of the arts, Coelho explained his understanding of time. "Time cannot always be measured with a clock. It has subjective characteristics."



Coelho is a photographer, television producer, documentary maker, professor of media art and founder and former director of the National Media Art Institute of the Netherlands. He feels that time passes much faster than it used to do years ago. It is therefore not surprising that the element of time is not only a source of inspiration for many artists. With the development of the technologies they use, it is also more and more a tool.

Coelho has devoted 20 years to film and television making, and has found himself analyzing the moving images in film and video as a series of stills, projected onto our retina for 1/24th, 1/25th or 1/30th of a second. A single image like this, part of a movement, often has quite different characteristics to a frozen, framed picture.



This inspired Coelho to start working with "frozen images", compressing years of time into minutes or even seconds, then releasing it in a series of photos of "frozen fragments". In his exhibition at CEAC, it is easy to see the link between his photography and his former professions. In his third series, "A Walk around the House", Coelho represents a continuous 38-minute walk and his observation of his plants and flowers in photographs. The images are arranged in the shape of a circle, like a clock face. The same feeling is created in his "Self Portrait", which gives the impression that you are watching a fast forwarded film of a man growing from 14 to 50 years old. According to Coelho, hanging a series of images on a wall can create a type of movement.

Speaking about his future plans, Coelho expressed his hopes of encouraging more artistic communication between east and west. He wants to organize more exhibitions both inside and outside China. He also hoped that young artists will be less reliant on computer technology and will find more inspiration in nature and reality.



"Time on My Hands" will be showing until June 23.

Vocabulary
retina 视网膜
compress 压缩
fragment 片断
CEAC 中欧艺术中心

 

 

A more comfortable pace



Enjoying his own time in the same way as Coelho, but in a much younger phase of his life, Icelandic musician Runar seems to be more relaxed with his guitar playing and singing in Xiamen. A year has flown by since Runar fell in love with the magic piano islet Gulangyu, sold his properties in Iceland and moved to Xiamen with his family. A new album based on his life in Xiamen is about to join his first release (in Iceland) on our record store shelves. In many salons and cafés, he has entertained listeners with his familiar European music and some of his newly composed pieces for Xiamen. Normally he brings his own slides to project as a background while playing his guitar, presenting the beauties of Xiamen as he sees them. "I'm really lucky that I don't have to rush about for all the things which occupy most of your time like many people are doing now. I do enjoy my own time and feel terrific with just my music, family and friends."

Both Coelho and Runar are happy and enriched by having time on their hands.

 

 

Entertainment Gossip
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The first look at Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's baby pictures is going to cost some lucky newspaper or magazine a bundle - but the money will go to charity. The couple agreed to market pictures of their newborn baby, with all proceeds going to help the less fortunate. Worldwide rights to the pictures could sell for anywhere from $5 million to $7 million.



American idol runner-up to sing at wedding
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Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have secretly asked American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee to sing at their upcoming wedding. A source close to the couple says, "Tom and Katie have become Katharine's biggest fans. They think she's destined to become a singing legend."



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Kilted bagpipers inspired Sean Connery to perform an impromptu jig on the Kodak Theatre stage as he accepted the American Film Institute's highest honor. The 75-year-old actor was presented with the organization's 34th Life Achievement Award Thursday night. Actor Andy Garcia called Connery "one of my greatest inspirations." Connery became an international icon as the big-screen embodiment of Ian Fleming's suave secret agent, "Bond, James Bond." He played the martini-drinking ladies' man in seven films.

 

 

Culture week

June 14-20: lunar calenda 19/5-25/5
June 17: World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
世界防止荒漠化和干旱日

June 18: Father's Day 父亲节
Sonora Dodd, of Washington, first had the idea of a "father's day." She thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909. The first Father's Day was observed on June 19, 1910 in Spokane Washington. Now Father's Day falls on the third Sunday of June every year.