Now on view in M: 'Take your Time'

Now on view in M

Take your Time

M holds a very extensive and diverse collection of objects, from old masters to contemporary works. We regularly show selections from them in our collection presentations. Since the beginning of early July, you can visit ‘Take your Time’, an exhibition that challenges you to really look and ask yourself questions about the role of time in art. Among other things, you will find these two works, separated by five centuries but still similar. Curators Peter Carpreau and Lore Van Hees explain.

'Calendar Dial', Unknown, c. 1500

The first thing that stands out are the scenes painted with great craftsmanship. However, nothing about this work is purely decorative. All elements have a meaning: they refer to time. In the six concentric circles you will find, among other things, the hours of the day, and the days and months of the year. The planets and the zodiac are also discussed, because five hundred years ago they were much more a part of the experience of time than they are today.

People believed they had a direct impact on their lives, so it was important to know the position of the celestial bodies.

All of these time indications are no coincidence. This work was originally a clock and a calendar at the same time. The mechanism has disappeared, but in the middle, there was an opening for the pointer that indicated the hour. Just above that, you could probably read the position of the moon and the planets.

The dial gives insight into the medieval world view. In God’s creation, everything is connected to everything. Nature has a fixed rhythm, and man follows it: harvest in August, press grapes in October. Time is cyclical – as it is now, it will repeat itself forever.

Kalenderwijzerplaat, Onbekend, rond 1500, M Leuven, foto: © Miles Fischler voor M Leuven

Kalenderwijzerplaat (detail), Onbekend, rond 1500, M Leuven, foto: © Miles Fischler voor M Leuven

'All Movement Itineraries', Christoph Fink, 1990-2011

Time also plays an important role in this work by Christoph Fink. It is a ceramic disc on which the artist has meticulously depicted his movements: near or far, on foot or by plane – everything has been recorded down to the last detail. You can find objective data such as time, distance and weather conditions, but Fink also gives his own subjective experiences: how he feels, what he smells and what he sees.

With this work, Fink has created his very own way of depicting his movements over a period of more than twenty years. The era starts at the outer edge of the disc; the opening in the middle refers to the future, and to the infinite possibilities that lie there.

This work and the calendar dial are both round and they both have time as their theme. But there is also a big difference between the experience of time each represents. For us, inhabitants of the 21st century, the arrow of time follows a clear direction from past to future. In the Middle Ages, people felt differently: time was cyclical, not linear. It rotated forever.