The Nature of Time in Multimedia Installations (With Emphasis on the Works of Doug Aitken and Ilya Kabakov)

Abstract

The multimedia Installation with the use of two or more different media of art, while creating an atmosphere to remove the audience from its passive mode, has a different way of dealing with the time problem than before. The purpose of this paper is to identify the element of time in multimedia presentations, with emphasis on the works of two artists, Doug Aitken and Ilya Kabakov. In order to achieve this goal, the conceptual framework and methodology of this analysis is based on the Göttfried Boehm and G. E. Lessing approaches. The nature of time in multimedia Installations is the issue of the present study. The results of this study showed that multimedia Installations seek to break the linear narrative of time. Doug Aitken, in his Installation, creates a sense of time-insensitivity using cinematic techniques such as slow motion, fast motion and repetition of sequences. While Ilya Kabakov offers a series of components related to individual life against the lens of time. In the works of both artists, a new understanding of the time is created for the audience to have successive and concurrent readings.