Just a minute

It’s true that in today’s world, a minute really is often all we have. Multitasking and microblogging are the symptoms of an era where time is certainly a premium.

The About a Minute exhibition currently showing at The Gopher Hole gallery in London’s Old Street explores the very concept of the minute, having brought together 15 conceptual artists, architects, designers, poets and writers to interpret this 60-second timeframe.

The work in the show is as varied as it is thought provoking – ranging from Sam Jacob’s chair models, which were created by students using narrative rather than visual guidelines (DW Blog 21 December); a brimming tray of watches with only a second hand from Elaine Ho; Post Works’ mesmerising 3D map of London created from mechanical parts; and the New Minute Society’s piece, which introduces the concept of the 48 second minute. 

Tonight the artists and the gallery curators, aberrant architecture and Beatrice Galilee, will be hosting a talk at the space, where artists including Dominic Wilcox, Post Works and the New Minute Society and will speak about their work and open up the discussion to the public.

Kevin Haley, co-founder of aberrant architecture, says, ‘The talk is an opportunity for the speakers to discuss their work and what they’ve done for The Gopher Hole.

‘It’s also introducing The Gopher Lounge as a place of drinking and thinking for creative people – we’re going to put on events to keep the momentum going, so you can come in and hear what young designers are doing.’

Melissa Appleton, co-founder of the Post Works design collective, says, ‘Our work is about trying to stall the idea of a minute. It creates reflections and re-reflections into infinity within the box.  The viewer is reflected, giving a sense of watching yourself looking at something.’

She adds, ‘A lot of our work is about the relationship between space environments and performance, and what that means in the context of the city. We used the idea of city as stage for performance, and created a series of characters and props and stage sets, as though London in one “act”, but abstracted.’

The talk takes place at 7pm tonight at The Gopher Hole, 350-354 Old Street London EC1V.  About a Minute runs until 13 February.