This Present Moment

“Time itself cannot be made, but if time is a medium, what can be made present with it? Can it be stretched and compressed like clay? Can it be turned like wood, carved like stone, bent like glass, or woven like twine? If we use time to make new forms, perhaps those forms can help us tell stories that have previously gone untold.” —Alicia Eggert

Sculptor Alicia Eggert creates immersive experiences of time. This neon billboard casts a brilliant pink light throughout the Renwick’s Octagon Room, prompting us to become more present in this very moment. Eggert illuminates a quote by revolutionary futurist Stewart Brand, from his book The Clock of the Long Now (1999), a manifesto for living intentionally with a ten-thousand-year-old clock in mind. The pink is a call out to the Me Too movement of 2017, a once unimaginable social reckoning that empowered people to share past stories of sexual harassment and assault, demand accountability, and make possible safer conditions for all.

This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, 2022