Theme 2027 - FB
BEYOND THE SENSE OF TIME
Memory, Caducity and Eternity in Contemporary Art and Design
After exploring, in previous editions, themes related to identity and the great dualities that run through existence, the Florence Biennale now turns its attention to the dimension within which every experience takes shape and transforms: time.
Echoing the title of the renowned essay by Joshua Meyrowitz, “No Sense of Place” (published in Italian as “Oltre il senso del luogo”, i.e. “Beyond the Sense of Place”), which anticipated the profound social transformations generated by electronic media and digital networks, the theme “Beyond the Sense of Time” reflects on how contemporary technologies are reshaping our perception of temporality.
If media have progressively dissolved the traditional relationship between social experience and physical space, making information ubiquitous and simultaneous, this has occurred above all because they have transformed our way of experiencing time. Waiting has diminished, archives of the past overlap with a continuous present, and distant events unfold simultaneously before our eyes. Contemporary life is no longer organised according to clearly distinct sequences — work, intimacy, memory, imagination — but within a permanent flow in which every moment can be accessed, shared and revisited.
Within this context, the XVI Florence Biennale invites artists and designers to reflect on the reconfiguration of temporal experience through three fundamental dimensions:
• Memory – the inner dimension of time, the stratification of experience and the persistence of the past in the present;
• Caducity – the awareness of finitude and the impermanent nature of existence;
• Eternity – the human aspiration towards the absolute and the search for a continuity that transcends the flow of time.
Throughout the history of thought, time has been the object of both philosophical and scientific reflection. For Isaac Newton, it was absolute and uniform, akin to a vast cosmic clock. With Albert Einstein, this paradigm changed radically: space and time merged into the continuum of spacetime, a dynamic structure that is shaped by matter and energy.
Long before modern physics, however, various cultural traditions had already questioned the nature of time. In “De Rerum Natura”, Lucretius observed that time cannot be perceived independently of the movement of things. The Greeks distinguished between Chronos, the linear time of succession, and Kairos, the decisive moment to be grasped before it vanishes. In Indian philosophy, time is often conceived as a cyclical process, marked by cosmic rhythms of creation and dissolution; in Buddhism, impermanence (anicca) is a fundamental characteristic of existence; in Taoism, finally, time is a natural movement to which human beings are called to attune themselves, following the harmony of the Dao.
Despite arising from different contexts, these perspectives converge on the idea that time is not merely an abstract measure of events, but a living dimension that runs through nature and consciousness. In different ways, they recall three fundamental experiences: memory, which preserves what has been; caducity, which reminds us of the fragility of all forms; and eternity, understood as the intuition of a deeper continuity that runs through becoming.
Art, architecture, cinema and design have always sought to give form to time: slowing it down, preserving it, compressing it or transforming it into memory, image and symbol.
Contemporary artistic practices do not merely represent time: they render it perceptible. Through suspended images, extended durations, reactivated archives and generative processes, artists and designers reveal the invisible texture of becoming.
If our age tends to compress time into a perpetual immediacy, art can restore its depth, reactivating the dialogue between memory and caducity, between what endures and what inevitably fades.
“Beyond the Sense of Time” therefore invites artists and designers to explore the relationship between past, present and future, questioning how the experience of time shapes our perception of the world and of ourselves. From this perspective, art becomes a privileged means of making visible the continuity that connects generations, cultures and imaginaries.
In an age marked by accelerated transformations and significant international tensions, reflecting on time also means questioning collective memory and our responsibility towards the future. Art and design can help to reactivate this awareness, reminding us of the value of shared time among generations, cultures and peoples. From this perspective, “Beyond the Sense of Time” also becomes an invitation to preserve the memory of the past and to imagine a future in which dialogue and peace can continue to represent a shared horizon for humanity.
Graphics by Chiara Zhu
If media have progressively dissolved the traditional relationship between social experience and physical space, making information ubiquitous and simultaneous, this has occurred above all because they have transformed our way of experiencing time. Waiting has diminished, archives of the past overlap with a continuous present, and distant events unfold simultaneously before our eyes. Contemporary life is no longer organised according to clearly distinct sequences — work, intimacy, memory, imagination — but within a permanent flow in which every moment can be accessed, shared and revisited.
Within this context, the XVI Florence Biennale invites artists and designers to reflect on the reconfiguration of temporal experience through three fundamental dimensions:
• Memory – the inner dimension of time, the stratification of experience and the persistence of the past in the present;
• Caducity – the awareness of finitude and the impermanent nature of existence;
• Eternity – the human aspiration towards the absolute and the search for a continuity that transcends the flow of time.
Throughout the history of thought, time has been the object of both philosophical and scientific reflection. For Isaac Newton, it was absolute and uniform, akin to a vast cosmic clock. With Albert Einstein, this paradigm changed radically: space and time merged into the continuum of spacetime, a dynamic structure that is shaped by matter and energy.
Long before modern physics, however, various cultural traditions had already questioned the nature of time. In “De Rerum Natura”, Lucretius observed that time cannot be perceived independently of the movement of things. The Greeks distinguished between Chronos, the linear time of succession, and Kairos, the decisive moment to be grasped before it vanishes. In Indian philosophy, time is often conceived as a cyclical process, marked by cosmic rhythms of creation and dissolution; in Buddhism, impermanence (anicca) is a fundamental characteristic of existence; in Taoism, finally, time is a natural movement to which human beings are called to attune themselves, following the harmony of the Dao.
Despite arising from different contexts, these perspectives converge on the idea that time is not merely an abstract measure of events, but a living dimension that runs through nature and consciousness. In different ways, they recall three fundamental experiences: memory, which preserves what has been; caducity, which reminds us of the fragility of all forms; and eternity, understood as the intuition of a deeper continuity that runs through becoming.
Art, architecture, cinema and design have always sought to give form to time: slowing it down, preserving it, compressing it or transforming it into memory, image and symbol.
Contemporary artistic practices do not merely represent time: they render it perceptible. Through suspended images, extended durations, reactivated archives and generative processes, artists and designers reveal the invisible texture of becoming.
If our age tends to compress time into a perpetual immediacy, art can restore its depth, reactivating the dialogue between memory and caducity, between what endures and what inevitably fades.
“Beyond the Sense of Time” therefore invites artists and designers to explore the relationship between past, present and future, questioning how the experience of time shapes our perception of the world and of ourselves. From this perspective, art becomes a privileged means of making visible the continuity that connects generations, cultures and imaginaries.
In an age marked by accelerated transformations and significant international tensions, reflecting on time also means questioning collective memory and our responsibility towards the future. Art and design can help to reactivate this awareness, reminding us of the value of shared time among generations, cultures and peoples. From this perspective, “Beyond the Sense of Time” also becomes an invitation to preserve the memory of the past and to imagine a future in which dialogue and peace can continue to represent a shared horizon for humanity.
Graphics by Chiara Zhu
© Florence Biennale 2026