Time is Luxury



 

Time Is Luxury is a performance art. Time is not tangible but we feel it, we use it, we forget about it, we rush for it, are we
running against time, can we buy some time? It is a commodity that can’t be bought or traded, once past is gone. For such a precious item, what would be the value? How come artists are not paid a fee for their labor? Is being an artist a profession; i.e., work? The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines work as “any activity for wages or salary, for profit or fees, or for payment in kind. One hour or more of such activity constitutes work.” If art is work, time and payment become the operative variables, in an equation something like “Work = Your Time X Whatever Someone Else Will Pay You to Do” (or, simply, “Time = Money,” where the notion of work as catalyst is implied). If the answer is no, then what is an artist doing (define) when he or she
executes his vision? Is it a hobby?

For the entire duration of the exhibit, whenever I come in, I’ll punch in and start the clock. sitting on a chair in a space and spending time there, just being there, sitting, standing, reading, chatting, pacing around the space. In the background on the wall, a big digital numeric scoreboard keeps count of the time and a per hour rate I lost or made.