SEEDS OF TIME

SEEDS OF TIME

by Sidsel Solmer Eriksen

FOUNDING EDITOR

I was introduced to Nagatani’s sculpture ‘Seeds of Time’ in a gallery in Milan in 2015, where the gallerist let me move the seeds on the extended line up and down. She also revealed to me the inspiration behind the seven seeds was the seven virtues of the Japanese bushido warrior, and that one of the seeds that was displaying a technical layout inside as a metaphor for the modern age. 3 years later, the sculpture still really sticks with me and has left an imprint on how we place ourselves i time and space. Very often during those 3 years I have opened the gallery catalogue to revisit the experience.

In front of Nagatani’s sculptures, the imaginary of the observer is taken towards a cosmic dimension, the sculptures are like atoms to matter, or cells to tissue, or stars to the galaxies. The sculptures are shown as messages of the incomprehensible mystery of the creative intensity. Nagatani’s pieces of art asserts like signs into the silence that reveals the deepest secrets of time and places the emotional conditions of the appreciator as a part of the sculpture.

The emotion that still sticks with me, is how the time we live in now has the same shape as other times. We are no different than our ancestors, planting and harvesting, and one day, our time will be just an era in history. But on the inside something is different from the others seeds. There is the new kind of technology, that has become part of our time, revealing new kinds of opportunities, challenges and creativity. With the universal idea of growth in mind, it is an exciting thought. How can we use our new found digital intelligence to plant seeds, that are as beneficial and organic in nature as nature’s crops? What kind of seeds are we planting for future growth?