Équation du Temps

With Equation Of Time, Raphaël Dallaporta invites you to consider the difference between standard time - that of our watches, where the length of the day is uniformly equal to 24 hours - and true solar time, which varies throughout the year. The equation of time is the astronomical value that indicates the difference between these two measurements and this shift serves as a metaphor for our arrangements with the movements of the world.
 
The exhibition consists firstly of a series of free exchanges that you are invited to conduct one-to-one with the artist, in the space of the gallery, for a period defined by the equation of time of the moment. At the end of the exchange, Raphaël Dallaporta will give you a certificate that you can co-sign, certifying that an exchange has taken place. On the opening day, Saturday December 12, 2020, the equation of time between noon and 7 pm will vary from -6 min 6 sec to -5 min 58 sec. Each visitor will be invited to enter the gallery and exchange with the artist for a period of time, depending on the time of the visit, between 5 min 58 sec and 6 min 6 sec, at the end of which the certificate will be issued. The exhibition will run until July 31 and according to the same principle, can be visited by appointment by writing to info@jeankentagauthier.com.
 
Since 2017, Raphaël Dallaporta has been carrying out at the Paris Observatory a verification of this astronomical phenomenon known since antiquity: by photographing every day at the same time the mark of the sun projected along the meridian line drawn in 1732 on the floor of the Cassini room, the artist verifies that the curve represented by these points of light does indeed form an "8" loop figure around the axis over the course of a year. This curve is the result of the equation of time. The exhibition is also accompanied by a triptych of curves traced in charcoal on the walls of the gallery - the "8" curve of the equation of time for 2020, as well as those of plus and minus 5,000 years - which will act as the frame for your exchange with the artist. Through this daily practice at the Paris Observatory, Raphaël Dallaporta reminds us that the 24-hour standard only constitutes straight and uniform time, a necessary convention for the functioning of our activities. In other words, as Heraclitus recalls in his fragment remembered by the artist (who for several months has dedicated an Instagram account to this experience, called @the_sun_is_new_every_day): "The Sun is new every day". Raphaël Dallaporta recounted this long-term experiment in his book Equation of Time (The Eyes Publishing, Paris, 2020) with an afterword by astronomer and science historian Denis Savoie and presented in the exhibition.

Equation of Time is part of the practice of Raphaël Dallaporta, born in France in 1980, who has been working for nearly twenty years with researchers to develop a work questioning the relationship that progress has with our own evolution. This third solo exhibition by Raphaël Dallaporta at the gallery pays tribute to Ian Wilson (1940-2020), a major artist, proponent of the dematerialization of art and author of numerous discussions. This exhibition, which allows each visitor to participate and to be offered a work, also echoes FREE LUNCH, the inaugural exhibition of the gallery space in the 15th arrondissement, in which all the works of the seven participating artists integrate "free-ness", being free of charge, as a constitutive basis (until May 29, 2021). By its very principle, the exhibition "Raphaël Dallaporta: Equation of Time" characterizes the need for human exchanges in the current context while respecting the current rules of physical distance and hygiene.