The Moment

Katie Paterson was born in Glasgow in 1981 and is now based in Fife.

Collaborating with leading scientists and researchers across the world, Katie Paterson’s poetic and conceptual projects consider our place on Earth in the context of geological time and change. Her artworks make use of sophisticated technologies and specialist expertise to stage intimate, poetic and philosophical engagements between people and their natural environment.

For Glass Exchange, Katie has made two inter-related works. The first is Requiem, a glass urn to be filled with hundreds of samples of dust. The earliest samples are ground from geological items that pre-date Earth’s history. They go on to chart the progression of time with later samples drawing attention to the disproportionate impact of humanity on the Earth over a relatively short period.

The second work is a series of hourglasses titled The Moment. Material from before the Sun existed flows for fifteen minutes through each timepiece allowing the viewer to reflect on the vastness of time and our role within it.

Requiem will be exhibited at Ingleby Gallery in Edinburgh from 9^th April until the 11^th June before being shown at National Glass Centre from 18^th June until 11^th September 2022.

Hourglasses from the series The Moment will be displayed at Durham Cathedral, Sunderland Minster and National Glass Centre. Additional venues are to be confirmed in due course.

Katie Paterson
Photo © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch, 2015