[Summer 2025]

Shaping the Contours of time
by Bernard Schütze

[EXCERPT]

The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens. – Rainer Maria Rilke

In his two-volume artist book, Presente: Pasado/Futuro, Ed Pien sets out part of a broader ongoing project in which he explores notions of time and ageing with a group of thirteen Cuban elders who live in San Agustín, a town on the outskirts of Havana. Since 2014, Pien has regularly travelled to San Agustín – at least twice a year if possible – to meet with each of the elders and discuss their individual perceptions and subjective experiences of time. By way of photography, video, interview transcriptions, and writing, Pien continues to document the exchanges and relationships that have emerged over the course of this process, which now stretches over a decade. The publication distils this accumulated material into a series of portraits of the elders, capturing the essence of their singular outlooks and expressing the spirit that permeates the project. The essence here is time – or, more specifically, time as it is perceived and lived by a group of people in the final chapter of their lives. From the outset, Pien set down a bold and consequent condition: the project will come to an end when all the participants are deceased – or he is – or voluntarily withdraw. This embrace of finitude is central to the project and is tellingly embodied in the artist book medium itself.

[ Complete issue, in print and digital version, available here: Ciel variable 129 – FROM CONTINENT TO CONTINENT ]
[ Complete article in digital version available here: TITRE ARTICLE EN]

Né à Taïwan et établi au Canada depuis l’âge de onze ans, Ed Pien vit et travaille à Toronto. Inspiré de mythes asiatiques et de contes occidentaux, il crée des univers fantastiques et par moments inquiétants, rappelant le travail de Jérôme Bosch ou de Francisco Goya. Ses installations monumentales, ses dessins et ses papiers découpés figurent dans plusieurs collections permanentes de musées canadiens, notamment à Toronto, Ottawa et Montréal. Il est représenté par la galerie Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain.
www.edpien.com

Bernard Schütze is an independent art critic and curator whose essays have been published in numerous art magazines. As well as having written various catalogue articles and artist monographs, he has presented talks at several art oriented events mainly in Canada and Europe. He lives and works in Montreal.