Quattro Minuti di Mezzogiorno. Hi Definition Film. Exhibited in "Dall'oggi al domani. 24 ore nell'arte contemporanea", at MACRO - Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma, Italy, April 29th 2016- October 2nd 2016

‘Dall’oggi al domani. 24 ore nell’arte contemporanea’ at MACRO, Rome curated by Antonella Sbrilli and Maria Grazia Tolomeo, reflects upon the theme of Time and its increasing urgency in contemporary society. This major exhibition includes works by over fifty artists including ‘Quattro Minuti di Mezzogiorno’ by Elaine Shemilt & Stephen Partridge, commissioned by Cultural Documents in 2010. In the era in which technology and the internet have changed our perception of reality, the rhythm and concept of Time continues to measure our lives in accordance with systems created hundreds of years ago. Our calendar is still based on the Gregorian calendar, introduced over four hundred years ago; the day marked by twenty-four hours, calculated by the clock, to whom we entrust the organization of our time.Thanks to the internet, Time has accelerated and also dilated, because social networks never go to sleep, remaining active round the clock. There is almost no distinction between day and night and Time has become a steady stream of seconds, minutes and hours, just like the dial of our watches, where the hand never stops.The curatorial arrangement of artists’ works suggest some thematic routes:Rhythms (Balla, Cambellotti, Paolini, Camoni, Romualdi, Mayr, Patella);Today, Tomorrow (Boetti, Ceroli, Mattiacci, Spinelli);Working days (Opalka, Pietrella, Adami, Blank, Giovannoni);Date (On Kawara, Vezzoli, Darboven, Comani);Special dates (De Dominicis, Closky, Albani, Sebregondi, Bertozzi & Casoni, Pignotti, Fois);Calendars (Boetti, Novelli, Miccini, Ori, Ghirri, Abate, Mambor, Mari, Cattelan, Neuenschwander, Camoni);Diaries (Breakwell, Rubio, AOS);Steps (Vaccari, Vautier, Baruchello Benetta);24 hours (Almond, Camporesi, Shemilt & Partridge).Site-specific works by artists of Manfredi Beninati, Daniele Puppi and Caccavale.Participatory works explore social networks, events, games, performances, meetings, lectures, readings, conducted in collaboration with the students of Contemporary Art History courses at the Sapienza University of Rome – Department of History, Arts and Entertainment.‘Quattro Minuti di Mezzogiorno’ by Elaine Shemilt & Stephen Partridge was commissioned by Cultural Documents in 2010 for the exhibition ‘A Purposeful Regression‘ at Galleria Limiti Inchiusi, Campobasso. Filmed in the town of Venafro, in Molise, ‘Quattro Minuti di Mezzogiorno’ (2010), a monitor-based video and sound installation by Stephen Partridge and Elaine Shemilt, employs a fixed camera position which at first frustrates before revealing the very immediacy of its story. At the announcement of midday, the many church bells of Venafro compete in succession for almost 240 seconds and we realise that we can no longer trust technologies as there is in fact, no single moment of midday. Filmato nella citta di Venafro, in Molise, ‘Quattro Minuti di Mezzogiorno’ (2010), un’istallazione video e audio di Stephen Partridge e Elaine Shemilt, impiega una posizione della camera fissa che si rivela frustrante prima di rivelare l’immediatezza della storia. Allo scoccare di mezzogiorno, le tante campane della chiesa di Venafro competono in suc- cessione per almeno 240 secondi permettendoci così di realizzare che non possiamo più fidarci della tecnologia, in quanto non c’è infatti un singolo e unico momento per il mezzogiorno. - Text from the essay ‘May we live in interesting times’. ‘Fermiamo il tempo e scendiamo…’ by Deirdre MacKenna