Block Universe presents an inter-generational group of artists operating from an omnitemporal perspective: faith****, Pap Souleye Fall, Vanessa Gully Santiago, Owen Geary, Timothy Hull, Steve Keister, Emily Drew Miller, Viraj Mithani, Nereida Patricia, and Ernesto Renda.

Block Universe Theory is a philosophical view of time that posits the past, present, and future exist simultaneously as a stagnant “object,” the appearance of time is created when consciousness travels through this unchanging body. It envisions the universe as a four-dimensional block, where time is a dimension akin to space. English philosopher C.D. Broad (Charlie Dunbar Broad, 1887-1971) coined the term in his Growing Block Universe Theory–positing past and present as existing within an unmoving block, with the future nonexistent:

“It will be observed that such a theory as this accepts the reality of the present and the past, but holds that the future is simply nothing at all. Nothing has happened to the present by becoming past except that fresh slices of existence have been added to the total history of the world. The past is thus as real as the present. On the other hand, the essence of a present event is, not that it precedes future events, but that there is quite literally nothing to which it has the relation of precedence. The sum total of existence is always increasing, and it is this which gives the time-series a sense as well as an order.” – Scientific Thought By C. D. Broad, 1923

British philosopher and idealist J. M. E. McTaggart’s (John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart, 1866-1925) “A-series” and “B-series” of time, which present two potentials for temporal order of events, laid the philosophical groundwork for this alternative conception of time.

Intentionally vague, the tie between the included work is a conceptual one. Time and its passage is a vital question to each artist–all idiosyncratic in their approach. One such angle is the application of a postmodern lens to premodern forms. Visual references to Greek amphora, West African decorative motif, Indian miniature and Italian Renaissance painting, Mayan glyphs, Black American quilts, and the Mishneh Torah are present throughout the exhibition. The re-appropriation of images also draws upon screenshots, zine fragments, single-use textiles, ancient symbols, and otherwise potentially lost pictures that have been archived through artmaking, extending their life and recontextualizing them through a contemporary perspective.

Other work visualizes utopia and dystopia–envisioning what comes next. Digital, ecological, and human trajectories are examined within an immensely broad arc of time. Several artists reference plant and animal biology and speciation, compressing millenia into a single image. Essential as well is the adoption of concurrent multi-narrative storytelling–whether through several moments in time overlapping and commingling, or a story of a broad swath of history synthesized into one work.

Block Universe was curated by Peter Kelly.