OCCUPY TIME changes our view of time

OCCUPY TIME: photography as research into time

Photography is often seen as a way to freeze time. A photo captures a moment that we can revisit later. But what happens when we use photography not only to preserve events but also to challenge our ideas about the past and the future?

That question forms the basis of OCCUPY TIME. The exhibition explores how dominant notions of time influence our view of history. It addresses, among other things, stories that are missing from official historiography, memories that are passed down from generation to generation and the way images can change our interpretation of events.

The concept is inspired, among other things, by critical fabulation by writer Saidiya Hartman and the notion of non-simultaneity by philosopher Ernst Bloch. The exhibition uses these ideas to explore how photography, archives and imagination can provide space for stories that have previously been underexposed.

Eight artists, eight perspectives

For OCCUPY TIME, eight artists selected: Aline Bovard Rudaz, Anna Safiatou Touré, Anton Shebetko, Chloé Azzopardi, Joanna Chia-yu Lin, Julius Schien, Marco Frauchiger, and Raisan Hameed.

Although their work varies greatly, they all explore in their own way how the past influences the present.

For example, Aline Bovard Rudaz focuses in Cherche RADIUMINEUSE on a forgotten chapter of Swiss industrial history. Between the 1920s and the end of the 1960s, hundreds of women worked on luminous dials, being exposed to radioactive paint. Her project brings the history of these women back to attention.

Anton Shebetko also investigates how historical events are remembered. In Dear Sons and Daughters of Ukraine he looks at how national heroes are depicted and how historical narratives are formed. His series Tryouts focuses on propaganda monuments from the Soviet era, which have since been destroyed or are no longer accessible.

Julius Schien investigates in Rechtes Land the locations where people have died as a result of far-right violence in Germany since 1990. By photographing these places, he makes visible how violence can become part of a landscape, even as the memory of it slowly fades.

From archival material to self-built cameras

The artists do not exclusively use traditional photography. Installations, sculptures, digital archives, and alternative photographic techniques also play an important role.

A particular example is Camera Obscura Type III by Marco Frauchiger. For this project, he built a large format camera using parts from airplane wrecks in Laos. With the camera, he investigates Switzerland's involvement in the secret war in Laos and captures both traces of the conflict and locations from the Swiss aircraft industry.

Raisan Hameed also works with existing images. In After Image, a continuation of his project Pixels of Memories, he combines digital images of Iraq from Google Street View with his personal archive. By manipulating, damaging, and partially erasing images, he explores how memories and war histories are made visible, but also what remains outside the frame.

Chloé Azzopardi, on the other hand, focuses on possible futures. In Non-technological devices, she creates fictional tools from found natural materials. With this, she explores alternative ways in which people can relate to their environment and nature.

Anna Safiatou Touré and Joanna Chia-yu Lin also use different visual forms to raise questions about colonial heritage and personal family histories, respectively.

Part of the FUTURES network

OCCUPY TIME originated from an open call from FUTURES, a European platform that supports emerging photographers and visual artists.

The exhibition is part of the FUTURES Annual Event, which will be held from November 27 to 29 in Utrecht. During this event, more than 120 artists and curators will come together to exchange experiences and ideas.

The exhibition is curated by Daria Tuminas and marks the beginning of an international trajectory. After the presentation at FOTODOK, OCCUPY TIME will travel to ISSP in Riga and Deichtorhallen Hamburg, where the theme will be approached from new perspectives.

Visiting OCCUPY TIME

The exhibition opens on Friday, November 27, 2026 with a vernissage from 18:00 to 20:30. From Saturday, November 28, OCCUPY TIME will be regularly open to the public.

The exhibition runs until February 28, 2027, and can be seen at FOTODOK on Lange Nieuwstraat 7 in Utrecht.