3. day night day night day

workshop leaders: susannah farrugia & thomas mifsud
part of a workshop organised by saces

an exploration into the multi-dimensionality of palindromic experience and the reversibility of time

2018
saces november workshop: palindromos

workshop theme: a palindrome is a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of characters which reads the same backward as forward. the palindrome is a non-linear mathematical / geometrical device. in language, the palindrome is expressed in the geometrical arrangement of words, letters or concepts in the text or the narrative.

every mirror symmetry is palindromic, but not every palindromic symmetry is necessarily mirrored. It is easy to have a reflection of an image but difficult to have an image that moves freely in both direction.

therefore palindromes do not just rely on symmetry but also on the transition from point ‘a’ to another point ‘b’ which when reversed from ‘b’ to ‘a’ results in the same experience. we interpreted these points in time rather than in space, such that ‘a’ & ‘b’ refer to events.

preconception - event - memory: multi dimensional palindrome as preconception and memory are both virtual but at different ends of the spectrum

‘running back again’ (palindromos), allows for reversibility of the linear discourse, the palindrome represents the very idea of transformation and metamorphosis. palindromic reversion is a device for breaking up the linearity of speech and, by implication, the irreversibility of time.

.
.
.

recognising that the timeline for the weekend workshop itself was in fact a palindrome following the pattern of day-night-day-night-day, we chose to focus on time ( & its relativity) along with memory as our fields of experimentation.

we used the weekend itself to organise a series of events with the intention of warping our limited human understanding of time. each event was followed by personal reflection & group discussion.

no time-telling devices were allowed.