Observing Time with Ale de la Puente
21st Mar - 21st Jun 2022
(Equinox to Solstice)
Online Course
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An observation journey, course and art project
OBSERVING TIME is a course where the action of observing is our main tool. A periodic observation that allows us to perceive subtle changes, rhythms, cycles and transformations of the environment by registering, interpreting and signifying them.
Seeing-looking-observing are synonyms but during the course they are also antonyms. We will trigger a creative process to find alternative ways to read our surroundings and its different scales in relation to our own existence.
In the course we will develop systems for observing the sky, nature, weather and the stars. From the perceptible to the invisible, from what we imagine, what is narrated to us and to what we dream. We will weave together relationships between the different observations of the participants and nurture our images of the world. We will develop exercises, tools and logs to record the passing of time and the impermanence of space.
Information
From 21st March to 21st June
- 8 virtual sessions, 5pm CET / 11am EST
- 2 hours per group session and 1 hour for private sessions
- Language: English
21 March - Group
4 April - One to one
18 April - Group
2 May - One to one
16 May - Group
30 May - One to one
13 June - Group
20 June - Group
Booking
Early bird: €380 / $440 USD (until 11th March)
Normal price: €520 / $567 USD (until 18th March)
* Price includes one artwork by Ale de la Puente with a market price of €500 (signed limited edition lithograph, 34x34 cm).
GOALS
To develop a practise of observation, recording, reflection and questioning.
To develop logging techniques based on questioning concepts of time, space and their scales.
To dimension our ways of being and acting.
Keeping a log of the processes of observation of time and space, considering their scales and their respective meanings.
Commitment
The participants should commit to observe and record for at least 20 minutes a day. Preferably 10 minutes during the day and 10 minutes at night. The more time spent observing, the better.
The exercises can be done at any time of the day or night. Preferably, you should do it at the same time every day.
It is recommended to observe sunrise and/or sunset every day. This could be the time of observation, but it does not have to be. The observation can be done while walking, cycling, standing, sitting, lying down, indoors or outdoors.
Participants should be willing to share their observations.
The Course includes
3 individual sessions with the artist.
1 digital observation notebook with the period between equinox and solstice.
1 artwork by Ale de la Puente with a market price of €500 (signed limited edition lithograph, 34x34 cm).
Bibliography, links, videos, films and downloadable materials.
A method based on experience and observation;
in notation and reflection;
in time and its rhythms,
in the heavens and Earth,
and what happens here and there
in nature and what it means to us.
Course Syllabus
TO OBSERVE
- Different qualities of attention; points of view; and to read (as illiterates) the language of rhythms.
- The Moon and the Sun as rhythms for our observation.
- The process of notation.
- Understanding the sky as a reference point for time.
TO OBSERVE THE RHYTHMS
- Attention · Observation · Perception · Expression · Relationships
- From line to plane - geometry - angles in movement.
- Sacred places of rhythms, time and space (equinox - solstice).
- On the process of notation: memory - recollection - history - signs.
- To signify our observation towards the eclipse.
OBSERVATION VS RELATIONSHIP
- Attention process: perception of simultaneity/succession.
- From plane to sphere · point of view = center.
- Multiple correlations: Each element is the center of the universe of its relations.
- The construction of the sky - drawing - a representation of the sky.
- Recognising the idea of multiplicity of meanings.
OBSERVE FORMS AND DIRECTION - THE MOVEMENT
- The Nomos and the Logos. Correlations between the universe of events and the universe of meanings.
- What is happening now - here before our observation.
- Cause vs. consequence to the idea of a relation.
- Creation and conceptualisation
- Sharing the idea of the sky as a common code/language/reference.
This journey starts in the Spring equinox,
Sailing through four months to the vernal solstice
Ending in a total lunar eclipse.
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MEET THE INSTRUCTOR
Ale de la Puente is an artist with studies in industrial design, goldsmithing and boat building. Her work explores notions of time and space in relation to philosophy, science, technology, experience and language. She constructs through ideas of time as our creation by asking questions and observing verbs, movements and rhythms. In doing so, she departs from a visual culture committed to space and arrives at a culture of observation committed to natural rhythms.
Ale de la Puente has completed several residencies in the scientific field. She has collaborared with the Ocean Schmidt Institute at the Sea of Cortes, CERN (European Centre for Nuclear Research) in Geneva, the National Institute of Astronomy (UNAM) and the Institute of Nuclear Sciences (UNAM), among others.
Throughout her career, her diverse background and interests led her to collaborate with astrophysicists and mathematicians, as well as carpenters, composers, writers, blacksmiths, philosophers, mezcal makers, gardeners, musicians and poets, to name just a few of her main accomplices.