Climate Drawing: The Atmosphere of Time

Graham, Joe (2017) Climate Drawing: The Atmosphere of Time. In: Drawing Conversations 2: Body, Space, Place, 8 Dec 2017, Coventry University. (Submitted)

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Abstract / Summary

This conference presentation discusses the extension to a recently published piece of drawing research titled; Nine Drawings (JVAP, 2017). Based around a series of nine drawings, Nine Drawings forms part of a larger, on-going body of work titled; Metronome Drawing Series (2012 -). As research, the aim of this work is describing the shape of time using pens, graph paper and a mechanical metronome. The methodology combines a process of repetitively drawing lines ‘in time’ to three different metronome tempos with the phenomenological method of variations. The tempos drawn-to are 60, 120 and 180bpm, represented via green, blue and red lines respectively, while the method of variations is used to seek the possible beyond the contingency of the given (Ihde, 2012). In Nine Drawings, the objective was using this methodology to investigate Bergson’s idea that time acts as a force, found within the philosophy of la durée (duration). In practical terms, this means Bergson’s idea forms the ‘possible’ understanding that could emerge once the ‘given’ experience of time as duration is taken into account. As a drawing researcher, my interest is in questioning the extent to which the drawings themselves show evidence of this understanding emerging.
The extension being discussed here pushes the scope of the Metronome Drawing Series in a more playful direction. The result is a new series of drawings titled; Eighteen Drawings (2017). Made using the same methodology, this series of 18 drawings serves a slightly different objective: the method of variations is employed to vary the climatic (atmospheric) conditions under which the serial drawing is produced. The inspiration for this idea comes not from Bergson, but from Tim Ingold, who states; “in becoming a linealogist, it is necessary to become something of a meteorologist as well” (Ingold 2015, 53). Without wishing to describe myself as a linealogist, I am interested in Ingold’s idea of necessity in connecting the study of lines (linealogy) with meteorology. As a standalone assertion, it appears similar to Bergson’s notion that time necessarily acts as a force once duration is taken into account – both rely on wedding the experiential to the empirical understanding in order to function.
In practical terms, Eighteen Drawings works by varying two things: first, one of a number of possible atmospheric conditions under which drawing can be produced (in this case, humidity) and second, the manner in which the tempos drawn-to are decided, via the agency of chance. The level of humidity is controlled by a household dehumidifier, while chance is employed to select which tempo (60, 120 or 180bpm) to draw lines ‘in time’ to. Treating this new series as an investigation, or test of Ingold’s idea, means asking the question whether or not the drawings bear any form of witness to it via a study of the lines themselves. As a continuation of my research through drawing describing the shape of time, such a notion is - and remains - an open question.

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