What is time? This question has preoccupied philosophers, scientists, poets, and artists since antiquity. Time is an elusive, multifaceted notion that on the one hand appears as a deeply subjective scale, and on the other as a fundamental measure.
In classical physics, time is treated as an absolute, neutral parameter that allows events to be arranged in a strict sequence. Our familiar ways of ordering everyday life — from clocks to calendars and timetables — are grounded in this understanding.
Yet in general relativity, time becomes a quantity that changes depending on the gravitational field and velocity: it flows differently for different observers and near objects of different mass. In quantum mechanics, particles can exist in superposition, calling into question the stability of classical ideas of causality and order. Reality becomes multilayered, as the same particles can be in several states at once.
The philosopher Henri Bergson distinguished between “mathematical time,” measured by clocks and instruments, and “pure duration” — the inner flow of events experienced directly, through intuition. At the intersection of these perspectives opens a space for artistic reflection on time as a parameter, an experience, and a condition of observation.
The paradox of time as both an objective and subjective scale raises a fundamental question: if time is always relative, how can we orient ourselves in the world? Does time exist outside human perception? Did it precede us — in the lives of planets, minerals, matter — and will it continue after us, in processes unfolding without an observer? Perhaps every phenomenon has its own time: that of humans and of nature, of a biological cell and a machine, of light and sound. Then time ceases to be a single axis and becomes a multitude of overlapping rhythms. Is it possible to synchronize the perception of time between different people, between human and nature, living organisms and technologies, past and future?
The exhibition "Synchronization" explores the relativity of time by addressing different systems of its measurement: subjective experience, scientific knowledge, biological time, and technological time. Each work in the exhibition unfolds in its own rhythm. Some invite slow, focused presence; others draw you in and propose experiencing time as something embodied — through movement and interaction.
Each visitor follows their own path and tempo. Try to notice how time feels different in each work. Pay attention to the differences you observe between your own perception of time and that of other viewers. For some, it will seem to stretch; for others, to accelerate.

Project team:

Anna Ilyina, architect
Asya Kaplan, coordinator
Mila Lutsyk, design and layout

Highlab, technical implementation
Architect assistants: Eva Beloglazova, Veronika Trutneva
Alina Pchelintseva, PR

Time present and time past
Will likely arrive in time future,
As time future once arrived in time past.
If time is always present,
Then time never lets go.
— T.S. Eliot, "Four Quartets"

Artists:

Victor Kertanov, LUKUTA, sseverachtoli, Daria Sap, Mikhail Grigoriev, Nastya Verzhbitskaya, Vsevolod Krassa, Ruslan Bobko, Maria Kuptsova, Sergey Kostyrko, FRESH.GLASS, Kibersadovniki, SYMETRIA, Ksenia Gorlanova, Kami Usu, Ilya Derzaev