In his installation The Garden of Time, Timo Heino combines shiny circular mirrors with a porous mass of dust. The dust spreads over the clinical mirror surfaces as some order of plant, or the mycelium of a fungus, living in symbiosis with its substratum. The smooth, easily cleaned surfaces are contrasted with the refuse of wear, posing problems in the shape of paired concepts such as culture/nature, noble/base, and clean/dirty. The materials emphasize each other's intrinsic qualities but are aesthetically equal. The combination forms a visual contrast, while simultaneously disturbing the conceptual dichotomies.

The central theme of The Garden of Time is temporality, which Heino treats in relation to corporeality and finitude. Time is present as continuous change on the mirror surfaces of the work, over which the world flows, reflected in varying ways. In a way, the dust with which Heino has partly covered the circular mirrors is, in itself, time materialized. The dust is like froth, cast up on the beach by the surge of life.

© Marja Jalava, 2000