Exhibition — Jan 25 until Mar 8, 1997

The theme of this show, consisting of 17 installations by twelve Dutch media artists, is 'time'. The exhibition is curated by René Coelho, director of MonteVideo/TBA in Amsterdam.

Participators are: Kees Aafjes, Peter Bogers, Boris Gerrits, Jaap de Jonge, A.P. Komen, Pieter Baan Müller, Bert Schutter, Bill Spinhoven, Fiona Tan, Steina Vasulka, Bea de Visser and Christiaan Zwanikken.

A 'second' must have meant quite a different thing to Aristotle in comparison to what it may mean to us now. Unless an objective comparison can be made, a second remains an abstract and utterly relative idea, irrelevant perhaps to the classical mind, while it may be tangible to us now.

It is obvious that our understanding of time is closely linked to the technological developments that allow us to quantify time in ever smaller, or larger, units and organize our sense of reality around it.

But time is not merely a relative physical entity, measured on an atomic clock. It can be a number of things. Once we speak to an astronomer, a psychologist, a biologist, a historian or to the person running to catch a train, the gamut of possibilities in perceiving time-frames opens up.

The Second shows the development in the work of artists who shape their ideas by using technological media. They are investigating the possibilities of modern electronics: computers, interactivity, Internet. The participating artists not only make use of 'time based media', but, each in their own unique way, and more or less explicitly content-wise, also refer to the phenomenon of time.

English catalogue (paper) with the CD-ROM The Second, texts by Rene Coelho, Timothy Druckrey and Rudi Fuchs, published by MonteVideo/Time Based Arts, 1997. The CD-ROM is both Mac and Windows compatible (design: Martijn Veldhoen/Arthur Nieuwenhuis). Available in the book shop of the Stedelijk Museum and at MonteVideo/Time Based Art.