Meanings and Definitions:Time
MMCA residency flag project
Seoul, South Korea
2025
Meanings and Definitions:Time is a collaborative, text-based work that brings together Korean and Georgian words.
The text has ten authors. We asked five people from Georgia and five from Korea a single question:
How would you describe the time we live in, using one word?
This word could be a verb, a noun, or an adjective.
Through the collection of these definitions, a poetic text was formed—one that reflects both the differences and intersections in how time and reality are perceived across the two cultures. Fragmented into individual words, the text expresses shared and contrasting hopes, fears, and thoughts.
By asking participants to define “now” in just one word, the project captures a collective snapshot of thought, emotion, and perspective from two distant corners of the world.
The collected words became a definition of time.
Georgian words: sanam (before), manamde (until then), ratsams (the moment when);
ambiguity; currents, anxiety, fragments, light, One who is lost in time; Was it worth it?; Don’t write to me that the garden has bloomed…; sea.
Korean words: Moment, Change, Stability, Empathy, Pain, Recognition.
Words were contributed by: Vako Natsvlishvili and Ina Charkviani; Giorgi Khasaia; Anna Dziapshipa; Zura Jishkariani; Tamara Khoshtaria; Loopntale, Jason and others who chose to remain anonymous.
Photo: Choi Yeonkeun (최연근)
