Time: that elastic substance

Metaphysical Decelerator is a kinetic sculpture that operates by altering the perception of time. A magnet slowly descends through two copper plates, producing a fall that appears suspended, modulated by electromagnetic induction effects that slow its movement, challenging ordinary physical conditions. Gravity seems transformed: the descent lengthens, time dilates, attention becomes more acute.

The mechanism, which retrieves the magnet and releases it again from above at regular intervals, introduces a repetition that recalls the gesture of Sisyphus; yet here, reiteration is not experienced as punishment but as the possibility of suspension. Each cycle generates a singular duration, an interval that does not fully coincide with chronological time.

Duration appears to depend on the intensity of attention. The viewer becomes inserted into a space-time that acquires the extension of their own contemplation. The instant thickens; it becomes inhabitable. The sculpture thus proposes a threshold between mechanical regularity and inner experience, opening the possibility of symbolic time: a time that does not merely pass, but takes place.

Metaphysical Decelerator, cooper, magnet, programmed engine, 187x70x70 cm, 2023