Mungo Thomson
Untitled (TIME)
2010
Untitled (TIME)
In Mungo Thomson’s Untitled (TIME), every front cover of TIME magazine is sequentially projected to scale at thirty frames per second. In a way, this work both examines the construction of history and the history of the influential magazine, which was founded in 1923. In addition to the play on “time”—one of Thomson’s ongoing obsessions—this piece highlights and continues the artist’s encyclopedic impulse, also seen in The White Album (2008), to record the history of the spaces he inhabits.
Mungo Thomson is a conceptual artist whose practice reveals a fascination with time, space, music, and perceptual phenomena. Engaging with the nuances of the everyday and the overlooked, his diverse body of work encompasses various media, including video, sound, sculpture, and installation. Thomson's art privileges backgrounds: material (the white walls), institutional (the gallery), as well as historical, exploring the contexts that frame and influence perception. His innovative approach often involves recontextualizing mundane elements, prompting viewers to reconsider their surroundings and experiences. Employing intellectual rigor and aesthetic depth, Thomson invites audiences to engage with the underlying structures that shape our understanding of the world.