Reflection: Beyond Time

Listening to this podcast, the story that struck me the most was about the artist in Dublin, Dan McDermott. He was introduced as an artist, but they didn’t talk at all about his work, or at least that’s what I thought at first. David McDermott is a weird guy. His voice is off putting and he seems like the kind of person that you might cross the street to avoid. However, he did have some interesting ideas about the way the world could work.

McDermott lives his life through the practice of “time experimentation.” He believes that anyone can chose their period in history and he has chosen to live in the past, without any modern amenities. The lengths that McDermott goes to in order to achieve this breach on psychotic. His practices make his life harder and weirder and because of that – more interesting.

McDermott’s life is meant to be experienced. Whether he means to or not, the way he acts draws an audience. His choices and actions are strange and so they are marked by the outside world. As a society we see time as very linear: past, present, then future. McDermott has thrown away this view and we as viewers find that fascinating.