Time is flying. Life is now. Some say time is money. Others say that if we could only be present in this moment, fortune would smile upon us. Time runs out. Death is the last taboo. Let’s welcome death into the conversation to actualize the miracle of life. Time & Death is also about beginnings, memories, roots, life stages, decay, resurrection, the future and, simply, the passing of the day. How are you, really, today?
“You know public spaces are a source of free entertainment. And honestly, I love this aspect of public or outdoor places. But what is entertainment and why is it important? Entertainment generally means “an event, performance, or activity designed to provide amusement or enjoyment to others.” So basically, it’s an act that gives you joy and some good time.” Peacemakers Pakistani.
A person’s final resting place can be the foundation of flowerbeds or feed the roots of the tree, or it can pose major environmental hazards through the continuation of a person’s carbon footprint even after the death. Peacemakers Pakistani explore the final footprint.
“They were quiet then. I was too as I reflected on what was said. This brief conversation had opened a new perspective and healed something within.”
Read this short story - or is it a fairytale? - or a biography? - by lawyer and podcaster Steven Moe. It may heal something within.
“The hell of the living is not something that will be,” Italian author Italo Calvino wrote in his novel The Invisible Cities (1972).
How do we experience decay in the city? Usually, we try to avoid it, demolish it, and replace it with something new and shiny. But in some cities, we can be lucky to experience places floating between richness and decay.
“Sat inside the underground chamber. Third day in. Four days. Five days. Six days. Pitch black. Dreaming and dreaming and dreaming, preparing for a ceremony that had been spoken to me. ‘We’re going to take you to the Land of the Living Dead. You must prepare yourself.’”
If you arrive to Marrakesh with the night train from Tangier you’ll be able to experience Djemaa el’Fna, the huge, central square, in the morning while it is still empty and silent.
Imagine an empty square, in early morning light, still wet with rain, deserted, a no-man’s land. Now, a dog passes by, its owner busy with her phone.
“After spending 2-3 hours in my apartment in Copenhagen, I feel like going crazy and wasting my time. In my apartment in Cairo I can stay for 2-3 days, feeling inspired, feeling that I am truly alive.”
Architecture is usually perceived as a spatial discipline. What happens if time becomes the primary dimension?
This story of a famous garden in Sweden is not about horticulture. It’s about life and death, human needs and capacities, and the power of opposites.
