In Time?
Encounters in temporality
Symposium, Zurich/Hong Kong
29-30 November 2024, live and remote
To be in time – for meetings, events, or transportation – appears to be just one of the demands of everyday-life. And there is no doubt: If we meet, we do so at the same time. But do we actually share a temporal understanding of this moment?
Joining online platforms to meet or taking a train to arrive somewhere on time suggests seamless synchronization. Nevertheless, there is no universal time zone. Above all, we exist in the co-presence of different temporal backgrounds – not just due to individual daily routines, but also because of greatly varying conditions where we live and work. Coming from temporalities in plural, do we finally meet in one present?
Taking East Asia and Western Europe as an example, the very regions where the symposium takes place; they are frequently discussed in clichés of an advanced (and technologically driven) Asia futurism and a (historically situated, but still paradigmatic) European modernity. Although we acknowledge that there may be local histories and futures, we are used to communicating based on one connected global present. When speaking of particular situations, on which temporal understandings are infrastructures, institutions, or schedules truly based on?
Keynote presenters will include Lisa Baraitser, Silvy Chakkalakal, Isadora Neves Marques and Royce Ng, Florian Sprenger, among others.
I will be giving a response to Florian Sprenger's Talk on Algorithmic Temporalities,
Sat 30.11. 15:00 -16:15
