The immersive installation Measuring Time through the Fall of Water by Areej Huniti (Jordan, 1989) & Eliza Goldox (GDR, 1985) prioritizes the interconnectedness of natural matter in contrast to the concept of exploitation that has prevailed in dominant power systems. Viewers experience an immersive audio-visual installation, including a water clock sculpture, a digitally modelled water clock on a vertical screen and a video that functions as a manual taking the viewer through the ecosystem. By immersing viewers in a narrative woven by the intertwined entities of water, stones, trees, and birds, the work offers a shift towards an elastic territory that transcends the traditional boundaries of time.

The water clock sculpture can be seen as a contemporary re-enactment of the ancient water clocks, a time keeping method using the fall and flow of water through vessels. The earliest water clock was found in the tomb of Amenhotep, who was buried at around 1500 BC. Early water clocks consisted of bowl-like stone vessels that allowed water to drip at a constant rate from a small hole at the bottom. Hours were measured using markings on the inner surface of the container. The water clock installation was inspired by technical drawings from The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, which documents the inventions by Badi’ al-Zaman al-Jazari (1136–1206), a prolific inventor and engineer of his time. Working with Al-Jazari’s scripts and drawings inspired the artists to engage with a way of timekeeping that is inherently relational and ecological, instead of the linear, accumulative logic of industrial time. Many indigenous epistemologies treat time as cyclical and intertwined with natural processes and ecological balance. The act of re-enactment itself, working through practice and material engagement also aligns with ways of keeping knowledge alive across generations outside of written, extractive traditions. Rather than enforcing a rigid segmentation of time, the water clock flows in accordance with its material conditions: water levels and flow, vessel shapes, and gravity. Time here is not abstracted or extracted but is physical, sensory, and in constant negotiation with its environment.