Time Spent at the River
photography, audio recordings, drawings, and text
Somes Expus
Someș Delivery & Cărturești Cluj
At the beginning of 2018 I spent 6 weeks in Portugal. I walked every day, from morning till evening, as the streets of Lisbon are wonderful and inviting to stroll, but also because walking itself is a practice that calls for meditation. It was a time dedicated to decantation, and six weeks were enough to integrate this practice into my daily routine. I still do it. In the same way, through daily exposure, I tried to get close to the river Someș; to make time to go to the river, break my work-at-home-eating-sleep routine, integrate the interaction with the river and thus extend the time for contemplation; to change the relationship with the space where I spend a part of the day and to reflect upon this process. Time may not be as malleable as I thought. Often, instead of managing to make time, time made me. The schedule, the work, the daily life has swallowed me. In the days I did manage to go to the river, however, I spent some of the most pleasant hours of the year, warm days of late summer and early autumn. The strolls, the flow and the rhythms of the water, the loneliness or the company of friends, the frivolous or intense discussions, the harsh, confusing or clarifying thoughts: I would let all these take over my time and easily build me a new routine.