Methods of Contextualising
For the fifth brief, I chose the third approach, killing rhythms. And as part of a 3 person group, after an initial discussion, we chose to work with the concept of time and the perception of it.
We critically questioned the representation of time in the form of a ‘standard 12 hour clock’ as we know of it. We examined how the ‘clock’ was a ‘system’ and a ‘killing rhythm’ in itself and time, as is perceived from a clock, is restrictive in nature and we have to ‘fit in’ to schedules often dictated by others or society itself. Our focus was also about how mental illnesses, neurodivergence and other ‘disabilities’ change how people perceive time differently. Even when one doesn’t identify with ‘mental disabilities’, perception of time can vary based on different factors such as mood, physical health, emotions, and even external factors such as weather, quality of life, environment, etc.
I think I have gained more clarity in my position, on disability justice and accessibility, as a designer, something that is as ‘standard’ or widely perceived to be ‘common’ such as time, can also be inaccessible to everyone, less inclusive in function. The standard visualisation of a clock is restrictive in nature as it is ‘universal’ and every human has to ‘fit in’ to schedules often dictated by other people and the society, often putting important considerations such as mental and physical health of an individual as less important than the schedules created by work, school and society. This brief’s outcomes and explorations show how everything that we know as they are, are not inclusive ‘enough’, or accessible by everyone. I think ‘universality’ is a flaw and is a result of consumerism driven by capitalism. This drives the point home that every human is unique and design for everyone should ‘ideally’ be specific and more personal, as much as possible.
Bibliography
- Ellen Samuels (2017), ‘Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time’, Disability Studies Quarterly.
The article by Ellen Samuels talks about a life lived with crip time and what the experience of living with crip time feels like. The author talks about experiencing crip time and how it has operated in their life, as a form of liberating them but also as feelings of loss and alienation. This article was important in our early research on ‘killing rhythms’ and to understand the concept of ‘crip time’ from a very personal point of view. The author talks about different scenarios where ‘crip time’ operated in their life and how it made them feel, sometimes making them feel at loss and grief, making them ‘aware’ of being disabled. It shows how their perception of time and how they experience time is so different than what one would consider to be ‘normal’, something that ‘able-bodies’ did not have to experience and how it made their daily life difficult and bitter. Alternatively, they also talk about how ‘crip time’ also made their experience of time different and how they saw time as a way of liberating from the standard societal way of functioning. Crip time created a different way of life for them, which they had to live with, although they wanted to live like everyone else, in the common order of the world, but they also embraced crip time as their way.
2. Carolyn Lazard (2018), ‘CRIP TIME’ [film]
This film by Carolyn Lazard shows a sequence in which a pair of hands are seen dividing up a set of medicine pills into smaller boxes, which are marked into days and different times of a day. The film is a single take shot. It is shot from a top view camera angle. We see in the film the sunlight reflected on the table top shifts and changes position, indicating the passing of time as the person puts pills into the boxes to prepare the medication for the coming week. It represents ‘crip time’ visually and that people’s experiences of time is affected by a lot of factors, some of which can be termed as ‘disabilities’. These factors affect the perception of time by different people, depending on individual circumstances and situations. This helped me develop an outlook on the perception of time and how time ‘feels’ realistically with people’s lives. Time is linear in its passing, but the perception of time and the factors that affect one’s time change and are different for different people based on their individual lives.
3. Basmajian, S. (Producer), & Pancer, M., & Hoffert, D. (Directors). (2001), OCD: The war inside [Streaming video]. Montreal, QB: National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved February 27, 2025 from https://docuseek2-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/nf-ocd.
This documentary film talks about O.C.D specifically and features individuals living different lives and their personal experiences with obsessive compulsive disorders, showing the viewers a glimpse of how O.C.D affects people’s lives on a daily basis and also the people around them. Every person has unique and different obsessions & compulsions revolving around their life and experiences and is very different than the next person. It also changes their time and shapes up their perception of time as they have to accommodate for ‘rituals’ and ‘habits’ that keep their mental health in check. Some of them also underwent treatment for their situations, so they can ‘fix’ their compulsions to be able to live their lives as most people do, to be able to have a ‘normal schedule’. This film showed me that different people have different experiences and different ways time work for them, helping us to break away from generalising time the same way for different people, rather looking at time as entirely as a personal experience.
4. Anna Masters (2024), Visual art and the perception of time
This article by Anna Masters explains how humans perceive time on the basis of changing contexts in our lives. She talks about time depending on physical contexts determining our perception of ‘passing’ of time. She states that a events such as plants growing or the ageing of our bodies or crashing of waves give meaning to the concept of time. These are ways to measure times which is different than measuring of time in a linear format, such as a swinging pendulum and moving hands of a clock at equal intervals. Visual arts can challenge the visualisation of perceiving time as we do in the modern day. She challenges the visualisation of time using visual arts in her practice and uses elements from select markers of time such as clock parts, fleeting petals, and even gravity. This article helped me to understand that perception of time is created by physical contexts which give time the meaning by which we experience time as humans, without that, passing time is just linear meaninglessness. Its our experiences of life that gives passing time meaning.
5. M. Ali Kapadia (2020), Designing for time-blindness
In this article, M. Ali Kapadia talks about time-blindness and the ways to design for people facing time-blindness. Time blindness is a cognitive condition that causes difficulty in managing and perception of time. The author says that this condition is very common in a lot of people, affects the way they see time passing, often not realising how much time has passed in a given interval. Our perception of time often does not add up with the way a clock works minute by minute, but is based on a lot of other factors, and it can be difficult for a lot of people to track and perceive time based on the working of a standard clock. A solution to help people track and manage their time better is an application they created, called timepie. It visualises time with a data visualisation visual approach instead, showing intervals of time as pie charts, forming the shape of clock. This creates a broader way to look at intervals of time, reducing anxiety associated with ticking time. The application also allows users to set alarms at specific time intervals which indicates the passing of time with alarms instead of a visual ‘clock’. This project helped us develop the idea of visualising the representation of time and challenge the existing form of a ‘standardised clock’.
6. Josiah Mcelheny (2008), Island universe
This work by Josiah Mcelheny is a series of sculptures created over a period of time. It is the artist’s visualisation of ‘the big bang’ through a collaboration with cosmologist, David Weinberg, to create abstract structures that visualise ‘the big bang’ with scientifically accurate models of ‘big bang’ theory. The rods in the structure vary in length which are based on the measurements of time. Even though it is not directly related to our investigation in the brief, this helped me appreciate the complexity of time and its representation. Each sculpture and the elements forming them are based on mathematical calculations and accurate measurements, involving time as one of the factors. This further develops my understanding of time and the perception of it from the perspective of space-time, which is very different and vast, in comparison to our daily perception of it and how we, as humans have chosen to visualise it in our lives. Visualising time on the context of cosmos and space-time is very interesting and can challenge our understanding of time in a way that is more broad and large scale in nature.
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