The Essence of Time deals with the different stages of decomposing plastic. What is time to an object made of a material that is infamous for its long decomposition period? How can we make this period visible?

Inspired by the beauty of decay, this project shows how time affects everything in different ways. Therefore, an artefact was placed in 3 different environments: a vacuum with UV-light, a humid environment with sand and bacteria, and lastly, the air we are breathing. Each environment being a representative of earth, air, and space. The design of the artefact was inspired by fossils, the ultimate symbol of time. The relief and sharp edges are relatively easy to erode, however, the core design of the object is rather robust, so that would take much longer to degrade. This contrast resulted in a visualisation of the process of decay.

• Project by Rosa van Koningsbruggen
• With BioArt Laboratories