TIME IS SUBJECTIVE

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES  — EMOTIONAL STATES AT LONDON DESIGN BIENNALE.

We were honored to be selected to represent the UAE at the London Design Biennale in 2018. Following the theme ‘Emotional States’, each design team had to develop a concept surrounding their given country. 

Our concept ‘Time is Subjective’ elevates the UAE’s primary texture, desert sand, into the controllable element of passing time. Whilst time and the symbol of the hourglass is a universal measure, it can be an extremely individual speed depending on your emotional state. 

The speed of change throughout the seven Emirates provides the primary inspiration for our installation. 7 Rows of 10 hourglasses appear suspended in mid-air within the vaulted mezzanine space. The 7 rows rotate in a wave as if supporting each other to push forward and depict the UAE in a constant state of motion. The number hourglasses also act as a monument to the most important decade in the UAE’s history. The 70’s marked its unification and its all-encompassing transformation.

There is also a connection made to the individual observer. Whilst time is an inevitability it is also malleable – in youth, a year feels like forever, but as you grow a decade seemingly passes in an instant.