Image and Time

When it comes to viewing images, time is not usually considered a particularly significant factor. Unlike reading a text, when we view an image, everything seems to be present at first glance. But different temporal layers are in fact entangled with one another in images – for example, the time that we spend in front of the work, the temporality presented in the image, or the aging of the image medium itself. Perceiving images should therefore not be understood as the simultaneous viewing of a given whole but as something that takes place in its own time. The way we see can follow a predetermined path, or it can select from a wealth of offers. Johannes Grave asks how images influence the time in which they are viewed in a way that differs from looking at other things and from reading texts.