August Film Club: Time is Art

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This month’s Food Matters TV film club Time Is Art explores the world seen through the lens of synchronicity, rather than the lens of consumption.

As we hit critical mass in planetary awakening, we are also crossing multiple ecological tipping points. As we do this, our sense of reality continues to be revised until the lines between realms are blurred. Our greatest hope for emerging from these turbulent times seems to be a combination of imagination, collaboration, and technology fused with spiritual purpose. 

The documentary film Time is Art: Synchronicity and the Collective Dream is a great example of this. The film integrates many art forms to communicate and express the multi-textured feelings of being alive at this moment in history. While watching the film I was absorbed into Jennifer Palmer’s journey as if it were my own.

“Evolution is not the straight path I had once thought. As a writer I have experienced how art opens doors to other dimensions of reality.” – Jennifer Palmer 

Watch the first 10 minutes of Time Is Art below: 

The film takes its title from the concept that ‘Time is Art, not Money’ first coined by the visionary writer Jose Arguelles. Identifying that the modern world currently use an artificial and mechanical time system (the Gregorian calendar and mechanical clock) Arguelles hypothesized that if we chose to return to a calendar system based on the cycles of nature, we would see that the principle function of the human is ‘to Art’, rather than only to consume or produce. For Arguelles, nature is constantly ‘arting’, once remarking that ‘you will never see an ugly sunset’, to point out the inherently aesthetic quality of the natural world.

The film traverses the liminal, lucid realms that seem to be right at the edge of our consciousness with hand-held shots that ebb and flow not unlike breathing. Art, science, and the psyche are entwined in this complex and playful world we inhabit. Though it sometimes appears to stagnate, it is most certainly ever-changing and dynamic. We need to reach new heights in order to grasp the impermanence through practicing meditation and yoga, yearning to reconcile the internal and external, the spiritual and physical.

Palmer, a writer with a cold, non-spiritual view of the world has a profound experience in the passing of a loved one and is set on a journey to understand the animated universe that she had never noticed before. Feelings that don’t fit easily into intellectual boxes are let loose. Husband and wife filmmaking team, Katy Walker Mejia and Joel Mejia, take the audience on a cinematic journey by flying over forests, walking down wooded paths, past Joshua trees, and exuberant waterfalls. These nature-scapes are juxtaposed by urban landscapes, inspiring street art, and engaging conversations about art, science, and spirituality.

“Every moment is full of so many magical things if you pay attention.” -Jennifer Palmer

Through these experiences, time begins to take on a non-linear presence and lines blur like deja-vu. Conversations with luminaries that span distant but related concepts begin to build a tapestry of information that surrounds us all the time but goes mostly unnoticed. It is a raw, emotional, vulnerable, honest journey of personal discovery that leads to a visual transformation of character for Palmer.

“We learn to open up to the psychic wilderness that is within us all.” -Jennifer Palmer

Does the world revolve around creation or money?

Science continues to validate the power of art to affect consciousness. This film is a beautiful integration of technology with art that holds a vast power to engage, inspire, and spark conversation about spiritual matters through narrative storytelling. This documentary film asks us to consider what life would look like if it was valued through the lens of art instead of time or money.

Taking an inner vision and externalizing it is transformative to the artist. The art created through this process can then be shared with our community to amplify the inspiration and connection. There are endless forms of art in the world and the film takes a focus on murals by street artist, as a way to convey collective dreams in public spaces.

One potent example used in the film is a mural painted by Chris Soria on the outside of jail with keys all over it. The symbology of freeing ourselves from the constraints of our own vices or limiting beliefs allows us to step outside of intellect and experience the feeling of liberation. The keys are all around us yet we rarely take the time to slow down, quiet our mind and notice them.

“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” -John Lennon

This documentary series is a gem in the emerging conscious, independent media movement. Coming from the grassroots, they screened the film all over the world, including six U.S. AMC theaters, as well as a sold-out AMC theatre premiere in downtown New York City. 

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