Artists will attempt to explain the concept of time through the medium of dance, theatre and performance art this week, as part of a research project lead by the University of Warwick.

Time has been something philosophers and physicists have tried to master for many hundreds of years. Now, academics have teamed up with three groups of performing artists to try and describe these difficult concepts through movement and theatre. The resulting pieces will be performed for the public, along with talks from academics, at Warwick Arts Centre on Friday 8 and Saturday 9 February.

Professor Christoph Hoerl, lead researcher on the project, said: “Medieval philosopher St Augustine said: ‘What, then, is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain to him who asks, I do not know.’

“This still stands true today. Nothing is more familiar to us than time. Every day we use and understand it, for example, when we arrange to meet with a friend at noon, wait while the kettle boils or think back to last year.

“But time is also mysterious in nature. We speak of time as ‘flowing’ or ‘passing’, or of the future as ‘open’ and the past ‘fixed’, but these are all just metaphors and it is hard to explain what we actually mean by them.

“Philosophers have therefore long made it their task to inquire further into the real nature of time and in this project we have teamed up with three different groups of artists to try and physically represent what and how we think about time.”

'About Time' will feature performances by Bbeyond Performance Art, BigTelly Theatre Company, and Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company as well as talks by Professor Christoph Hoerl, from the University of Warwick, and Professor Teresa McCormack, a psychologist from Queen's University Belfast.

The event is being organised as part of the interdisciplinary research project between the University of Warwick Philosophy Department and Queen's University Belfast. Entitled Time: Between Metaphysics and Psychology, it is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

There will be two performances of 'About Time' at Warwick Arts Centre next week, on Friday 8 and Saturday 9 February at 7:45pm. Tickets are available from Warwick Arts Centre website, or by calling the Box Office on: 024 7652 4524.

5 February 2019

For further information:

Andrea Cullis

Media relations manager

E: a dot cullis at warwick dot ac dot uk

M: 07825 314874