Deep Time

Deep time refers to the concept of an expansive time that stretches far beyond human history to include the approximately 4.5 billion-year geological history of Earth and the estimated 13.8 billion-year history of the universe. In art, deep time could be explored in works that deal with the long-term processes of geological formation and the cosmos. Such concerns are important, for example, to Hiroshi Sugimoto’s waterscapes and Darren Almond’s landscapes, both of which use long-exposure photography to capture a sense of expanded time.