Yesterday Today Tomorrow

Yesterday Today Tomorrow is a kinetic installation visualizing the complex passage of time as it relates to the site-specific concepts, people, and materials of the historic King Edward School. The installation takes the form of 105 suspended hourglasses, filled with sand crushed from sandstone bricks collected onsite during cSPACE’s renovations.

Ranging from 1-minute to 12-hour intervals of time, hourglasses float through the Historic Grand Entrance and rise in a glassy cloud up towards the contemporary interior of the multi-use artspace. A steady stream of sand will rain down against the glass in a silent cacophony of movement. Every 5 minutes, a different assortment of hourglasses flips, creating a complex visual aesthetic appearing at once both random and mathematical. Viewers who frequent the space will learn to read these movements as the ticking of an intricate clock, mapping universal time in relation to abstract, personal measurements of time.

Mysterious, experimental, and multifaceted, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow utilizes the hourglass as a powerful symbol of progression and momentum, drawing a direct relationship to the sandstone school’s past.

The project is supported through the City of Calgary 1% Public Art Policy. The artwork is included in the permanent collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.