It’s a drop-in community research lab that uses art and dialogue practices and experiments to investigate the nature of Time and Temporality.

The research questions are:

1. How can we be more intimate with Time

2. Is Time incarcerated and if so how can we help to liberate it

The was a first phase of the Time Zone that was 100 weeks long and ran from Nov 2019 to Oct 2022.

The second phase of the Time Zone is a co-creative storytelling game that we build up to by reviewing 12 sessions of Phase One. The game is called Kairos and Omen. Learn more about it below.

The archive is the collection of everything we created, read and found (including recordings of all the discussions) during the first 100 sessions.

It’s currently in a google drive, but is slowly moving over to a more user friendly space, called The Time Zone Archive. You are more than welcome to use it and add to it with your comments. The only request is that you do sign up for the Time Zone first, which means being willing to receive (not necessarily read) the emails.

1. To be come more intimate with Time as a being in its own right, to understand its entrapment in late capitalism. To imagine and practice the liberation of Time. To find and enjoy new ways of relating to Time.

2. To study together and generate knowledge in an environment of creativity and kindness that brings us all abundance and a sense of hope.

What is the purpose of Phase Two: Archive Fever?

The purpose of Phase Two: Archive Fever is to retrace our steps, deepen our understandings, pick up loose threads and have more good times together.

We will shower the recordings of the first 102 sessions with love, and to make new works about Time.

You can come and go as you like. Drop in at any time during the sessions and come to as many or as few sessions as you like. Even if you just read the emails and/or poke around in the archive we will consider you part of the Lab!

The Phase Two Map Making sessions will "pop-up" which means you will get an email letting you know when they will happen and what the timings will be. There is an online calendar so you can easily keep track of upcoming sessions.

WHY THE CHAOS?

Because we did the first phase on one hundred consecutive Wednesdays at the same time of day, and I’d like to experiment with non-regularity.

Absolutely.

There are no obligations, nothing you need to already know or be to participate in the Time Zone Research Lab.

Sign up at www.nadiachaney.com

There is no particular cost for Phase Two, but donations and exchanges and good will are always welcome.

If you find you are receiving more value than you paid, then please PAY IT FORWARD in your community. If you can't or don't want to pay it forward, you can always send money back this way.

For example, if you paid $0.23 for a session, but you received $10 in (your own perceived) value try to find a way to make a $9.77 contribution to your “home” community. That can be anything you want (you could volunteer somewhere, help someone in need, share a poem with a friend, make someone dinner, chat with a stranger, knit someone a scarf, really ANYTHING that you feel has that value). You DO NOT tell us what you did. Or, you send the difference in cash to the Lab. In Phase One the money went into a quantum octopus... and so far the same is happening with Phase Two... but this may change.

All money received deposited in THE OCTOPUS is not seen or counted until the end of the experiment. (Nadia will keep that money in return for hosting the Lab and paying for its various costs.)

WHAT’S THIS ABOUT? I’VE NEVER DONE ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE Imagine that inside the dark womb of the octopus is the vibrating soup of possibility in which we are co-creating! Really though. Or, imagine that by destabilizing the HOW MUCH something is worth, and focusing on aligning with the FLOW or MOVEMENT of its worth we might create a different kind of exchange. One that is alive and abundant.

FINE, BUT HOW DO I PAY? Paypal, etransfer, personal cheque, credit card or cash. You’ll find the details at the bottom of each email. If necessary, Western Union is also an option but not preferred.

WHAT IF I CAN’T OR WON'T PAY THE BASE FEE? If you cannot or do not want to pay for any reason you can exchange in kind by interviewing a “time professional” in your community about the nature of time. You can submit a 500-1000 word report or an audio recording of the interview. You can do this as often as you like. The interviews from Phase One are amazing! It's a great way to participate.

WHAT THE HECK IS A TIME PROFESSIONAL?

In Phase One we limited it to drummers, but now anyone who works closely with time can be included. Here are some ideas: watchmaker, referee, composer, dancer, ADHD specialist, regression therapy hypnotist, hospice nurse, air traffic controller, morning radio DJ, emergency room nurse… see? Anyone who works with time. The interview must be about what they know about the nature of time. You can hear the collection of drummer interviews in the archive.

DID YOU SMASH THE PHASE ONE OCTOPUS? No. Epok the Usher is alive and well, and your monetary contributions are still in the dark starry womb of the universe. But this might change... there are disturbances in the force.

Online (zoom) from anywhere in the universe. Link will always be in the email. It’s the same link as Phase One.

Just click here and fill in the form. Everyone is welcome!

If you have trouble with the form visit www.nadiachaney.com or email me at timezoneresearchlab@gmail.com.

1) lots of new ideas and insights about the nature of Time and Temporality

2) Lots of tiny works or bigger works you created in tiny chunks

3) a community of amazing people to learn about time

4) an experience of a fresh way to do higher education

5) insight into experimental modes of group facilitation

6) a pdf of a fascinating reading about time, an audio recording of the selected reading, an audio recording of the session readings, a short podcast, access to the entire archive

7) a weekly session full of art, laughter and learning

8) the possibility of limitless abundance and joy

Some of the topics from Phase One:

loop quantum gravity

evolution

geology

ancient Egypt

cave paintings

relativity

afrofuturism

queer time

film time

healing and recovery/ diagnosis

reincarnation

rhythm

reverberation

divination

death

derivitives

songlines

waiting

archeology

intuition

ritual

timelines

........and more.

WHAT HAPPENS DURING THE SESSIONS?

There are Asynchronous sessions in the Archive where we communicate by leaving open messages in threads.

And there are MAP DAYS when we make our game board!

You can enter the project any way that you like. There is NO minimum participation. We LOVE witness mode. We love it when you come and go.

The podcast will keep you up to date.

You do NOT need to understand what you read in order to participate. You do not need to read to make the art. You can come to the readings and leave before the art. If you find the readings or the strcture too complex just let it wash over you. This is an EXPERIMENT, not a class or a course.

If you want to talk about feeling overwhelmed or like your'e falling behind, reach out. We'll listen and tell you that you are perfect exactly as you are.

Just let yourself off the hook and enjoy the ride!

The game is called Kairos (“the opportune moment”) and Omen (“a portent or prophecy”). At heart it’s a storytelling game, where each person gets a turn to add a piece to the story. Beyond that, there is the KAO MAP where, after reviewing each session, we make a surreal digital collage landscape for that session. The total of the landscapes for each season is the world of the game. The game does have rules, but the rules are always evolving and they do not need to be memorized.

The game is played on the last day of every season. The season consists of 13 asynchronous review sessions, an unspecified number of Map Days (to create the map, as needed) and one Game Day. There will likely be nine seasons.

Absolutely. Anyone can play. Everyone is welcome, of any species, age and educational background. You do not need to have attended previous sessions to play, but you do need to be signed up for the Time Zone.

That’s probably going to happen to everyone at some point or another, and we’ll figure it out together. There will be players “on the Magic Carpet” with different roles, to help you navigate: the dreamweaver, the white rabbit(s), the puppet master, the iconographer and the cartographer, and possibly others. These players have a little more background in the rules of the game. You’ll never be left alone and it’s fine to make mistakes.

One of the most important skills we learned in phase one of the Time Zone was how to recap what has been happening in a session when someone new drops in. During the Game we can do this as often as necessary. We may even have a notetaker on the Magic Carpet, if it feels needed.

This is a rebirth eschatology. You may be reborn as you were, as you wish, or… with some interference. But you can always keep playing.

You can look through the Archive, you can develop a character (that character can be you), OR you can just come as you are on game day.

IS THIS PROJECT FUNDED?

No. If, however, you would like to make a contribution or write a grant on behalf of the Time Zone that would be wonderful. That money would also go directly into the Octopus.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE KNOWLEDGE WE PRODUCE?

It will be held under a creative commons license.

This license lets others distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation.

This applies to works that are in the SHARED folders and pages of the TZ archives only. If you keep works in unshared folders in the drive they are not subject to the creative commons license.

WHAT BACKGROUND DO I NEED?

None. You do not need any kind of academic or artistic background to participate. All educations, genders, ages, races, ethnicities, languages, abilities, etc., are welcome. We will have guidelines and practices to work towards balancing voice and power.

WHAT LEVEL OF COMMITTMENT IS REQUIRED?

You are free to come and go as you like any time. You can attend one session or all the sessions.

WHO IS THE TEACHER?

I will be the host and facilitator. The main teachers are a 100 year old sourdough bacterial culture that was passed to us by the poet Deann Nardo, and Epok the Usher (our octopus)

WHERE DID THE OCTOPUS COME FROM?

The Octopus is a commission for the Time Zone Research Lab by the incredible ceramicist and sculptor Wai Yant Li.