Pavlovka Pinhole Fest

Pavlovka ArtGallery presents the 9th Pavlovka Pinhole Fest, themed "Time Slips Through Our Fingers".

Using pinhole and alternative photographic techniques, we explored the theme of the passage of time.

We know that time is linear. From the past to the future. From birth to death as one of the existential givens. Once there was everything, and then there will be Nothing. Or, if you prefer, a beginning and an end as the personification of the Last Judgment. Time is an existential category; everyone has their own clock, and somewhere within it lies a mechanism that allows us to resist the malicious god and submit to the benevolent one. But when it malfunctions, time slips through our fingers.

Most importantly, however, is how it flies, races, and passes until the entropy of the "human — space — time" system reaches its apogee.

So, how do the festival participants perceive time?

• Someone, exploring the flow of time, raises the question: what is decisive in perception — the mechanics of the process or its essence?

• Someone reflects on the theme of existence, metaphorically filtered through the sieve of time, and contemplates the relationship between time and speed, as well as the impact of this process on human decisions.

• Some say: the moment a photograph is taken, it becomes part of the past and simultaneously the present and the future, because without it, that moment would have vanished forever. Photographs reflect the impossibility of fully grasping a moment, leaving behind only traces of experience, memory, and atmosphere.

• Others claim that time is the author of the photographic process, and the frames are motionless witnesses to how everything we try to hold onto gradually dissolves, leaving behind only faint, fleeting traces. Time is like a dance — gradually gaining speed, flying by, and slipping away from us.

• Still others suggest that where photography loses its image and time escapes measurement, something lies beyond the boundaries of human reason.

• And some lean towards the idea that time may not exist at all, but we perceive it as flowing because everything has a beginning and an end. Only the present moment can be authentic.

So, you are invited to explore the theme's vision by 77 authors from 27 countries: