Timelab is a citylab for new collaborative models of working. Timelab gives examples of small and large-scale change, eliciting dialogue and offering new perspectives. Timelab provides time, space, and reflection for a society in motion. Timelab hosts and initiates an open lab with digital prototyping tools, co-creation projects, artists-in-residencies, hand-on open workshops, lectures and debates, and a co-working space.

‘How Do We Save Time?’ is the name of the AiR program for which Timelab invites a group of 12 internationally-based artists and makers to gather in Ghent from November 18 – 27, 2016 to explore and reflect on current and changing perceptions of time.

If time is a malleable, man-made concept, how do we make sense of it? How do we negotiate between different timescales, from the deep time held by fossil fuels and nuclear waste to the quick flight of energy or the lifespan of a human? How do we think about time outside of how it shapes our sense of history, presentness, and futurity? How do different social realities and modes of intersectionality shape our experience of time? And how does the exponentially increasing pace of innovation affect our perception of time?

A series of videos posted on the open call website bring individual reflections on time gathered from creators, public figures, and other citizens of Ghent. In addition, a selection of source materials inspired by these different voices hints to the different directions our open-ended inquiry into saving time can unfold. Together, the videos and sources are intended as a point-of-ignition for applicants to formulate their personal brief in response to the prompt ‘How Do We Save Time?’.