Paper Time

An audio essay on the heterogeneity and impermanence of memory

The catalogue of the group exhibition Paper Time (National Center for Contemporary Arts, Moscow, 2011), which brought together works by conceptualist artists exploring the materiality of paper as a medium—from Dmitri Prigov’s tear-off calendars to ticket stubs from Kirill Serebrennikov’s archive—became a starting point for a reflection about the properties of memory. Memory, like paper, is a fragile, unreliable, and even hopeless material, but at the same time it is malleable and plastic, capable of taking various forms and telling stories. The layered «paper» time takes the form of an audio essay composed of sound textures and field recordings. In it, sound is juxtaposed with the recollection of what was, could have been, or what could not have been, but has nevertheless crystallized into a knowing, haunting sense of uncertain authenticity.

About the Artist

Max Rakhmatullin is a musician and composer and participant of the projects Kruzhok and Errring Bar. He releases electronic music under the name Cotton Pills. His tracks have been featured on compilations by Dutch (Sann Odea and Plor) and Russian (Mybo and DSS) labels. Since 2023 he has been based in Paris, where he explores the potential of electroacoustic music.