The Temporal Extension of Place: The Phenomenon of Age in Heritage Environments

Our world is, by its very nature, a place of change; trees grow, skin wrinkles and stone discolours;
every state of being is finite and all opportunity is fleeting.

Intrinsic to the apparatus of perception are pre-reflective judgements concerning the transformative
processes constitutive of this world. We experience these intuitions as ‘age’ and, although derived
from momentary observations, this perceptual discernment allows us to ‘chronicle’ the flux and
stabilise the evanescent environment in which we find ourselves.

This primordial perceptual apparatus, evolved to allow us to understand transmutations in the

‘Natural’ environment, is applied equally to the artefacts of our technicity, and particularly the
sedimentations of our built heritage.

Through the phenomenon of age, we are able to ‘feel’ Time in physical objects. Furthermore, the
exercise of these sub-conscious perceptual skills generates within us the positive affect we feel in
temporally complex environments; in such contexts, age actually ‘nourishes’ us.

The paper proposes hypotheses concerning the mechanisms that underlie ‘age phenomena’,
developed through a doctoral project pairing traditional literature-based research and
phenomenology with sculpture practice, proposing routes by which perceptual structures adjust
meaning and generate emotional affect.

Clearly an informed understanding of our experience of objective age is crucial for anyone engaged
with the physical world but particularly designers and manipulators of place. Armed with a
structured view of how age ‘moves’ us, we can confidently progress not only toward being culturally
comfortable with the phenomenon, but employ its emoluments more fruitfully in the ‘worlds’ that
we construct for ourselves.

OUTAKES

both in ourselves and the things around us, leading to relationships within our society which displace
the current predispositions toward the young and the new.

Central to our experience of ‘age’ are the processes through which we assimilate the changing
nature of entities (biographic mental object-files) around temporal-archetypes, the states in which
objects carry greatest meaning for us.

Convergent aspects of several phenomenological primary sources, including Aristotle, Husserl,

Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, are interwoven to illuminate our interaction with the material-
temporality of the world. Throughout the research, this relationship is given physical expression
through three-dimensional artworks.
Convergent aspects of several phenomenological primary sources, including Aristotle, Husserl,
Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, are interwoven to illuminate our interaction with the material-
temporality of the world. Throughout the research, this relationship is given physical expression
through three-dimensional artworks.

BIO

Paul Tuppeny completed an MA Fine Art in 2016, his work also receiving an award in the National Sculpture
Prize that year. Paul was invited to join the Royal Society of Sculptors in 2017. He was longlisted for The Ruskin
Prize in 2017 and 2019 and has exhibited across the UK (De le Warr Pavilion/Murmuration’s Gallery Bexhill,
Mall Galleries ING Discerning Eye, OXO Tower, Wells Art Contemporary). Paul is a ‘confirmed-status’ PhD
student researching ‘age’ phenomena and ‘material temporality’ as expressive media in contemporary sculpture
and is a member of British Society for Phenomenology, presenting a paper at their 2022 Annual Conference.

with outdoor venues including The Broomhill Estate, Worthing Beach, The Cotswolds Sculpture Park
and Fresh Air Sculpture Biennale (twice). Indoor exhibitions include the Murmuration’s Gallery and
De le Warr Pavilion in Bexhill, The Mall Galleries ING Discerning Eye, The OXO Tower and most
recently, Wells Art Contemporary which led to the acquisition of a sculpture by Wells Cathedral.

Paul is currently a ‘confirmed-status’ PhD researcher at UAL (University of the Arts, London,
Chelsea College) researching the use of ‘age’ phenomena and material temporality as expressive
media in contemporary sculpture.

Our world is, by its nature, a place of change; trees grow, skin wrinkles and stone discolours; every
state of being is finite and all opportunity is fleeting.

Intrinsic to the apparatus of perception are pre-reflective judgements concerning the transformative
processes constitutive of this world. We experience these intuitions as ‘age’ and, although derived
from momentary observations, this perceptual discernment allows us to ‘chronicle’ the evanescent
environment in which we find ourselves.

This primordial perceptual apparatus, evolved to allow us to understand the ‘Natural’ environment,
is applied equally to the artefacts of our technicity, and particularly the sedimentations of our built
heritage.

Through the phenomenon of age, we are able to ‘feel’ Time in physical objects. Furthermore, the
exercise of these sub-conscious perceptual skills generates within us the positive affect we feel from
temporally complex environments such as heritage sites; in such contexts , age actually ‘nourishes’
us.

The paper proposes hypotheses concerning the mechanisms that underlie ‘age phenomena’,
developed through a doctoral project pairing traditional literature-based research and
phenomenology with sculpture practice, proposing routes by which perceptual structures adjust
meaning and generate emotional affect.

Clearly an informed understanding of our experience of objective age is crucial for anyone engaged
with the physical world but particularly designers and manipulators of place. Armed with a
structured view of how age ‘moves’ us, we can confidently progress toward being culturally more
comfortable with the phenomenon and employ its emoluments fruitfully in the ‘worlds’ that we
construct for ourselves.