The meaning of time

Time is pervasive, but does it really exist? What’s more, our own human experience of time doesn’t seem to match up with physics. How do we reconcile the two? Does time flow? Or is this just an illusion? And how do we think about ourselves as time-dwelling beings – can we be kinder to our future selves and regret less about our past? This evening’s conversation and performance allow us to make the familiar strange, and the strange familiar, as we delve into the mysteries of time.

Kristie Miller

Speaker

Kristie Miller’s research centres on the metaphysics of temporal experience and time, and explores ideas of personal identity, composition and persistence. Kristie is a professor of philosophy at the University of Sydney and is the joint director of the interdisciplinary Centre for Time, which explores the intersection of psychology, physics and philosophy. As well as having her work published in journals such as Inquiry, American Philosophical Quarterly and Synthese, Kristie has co-authored several books including An Introduction to the Philosophy of Time (2018), Out of Time (2022) and Everyday Metaphysical Exploration (2022).

Kristie can be found on Twitter at @newagendas and on Facebook at The Centre for Time.

Lilian Steiner

Artist

Lilian Steiner is an independent dancer and choreographer, whose practice champions the deep intelligence of the body and its unique ability to reveal and comment on the complexities of contemporary humanity. Her interests extend into experimental sound and visual design practices where the body is the base for questioning and expression. Lilian’s work has been presented in Australia, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Latvia and Hong Kong. A long-term performer-collaborator with Lucy Guerin Inc, Lilian has also worked on numerous projects with the choreographers Phillip Adams, Shelley Lasica and Melanie Lane, among others, and frequently collaborates with artists working with sculpture, film and 3D digital design.

Lilian is on Instagram at @liliangrace.

James Rushford

Artist

James Rushford is an Australian composer, performer and musician whose work explores a broad spectrum of genres and traditions, using piano, synthesisers, organ, viola and electronics. He is inspired by both early and new music practices, exploring medieval portative organ alongside the 20th-century avant-garde, as well as popular genres. James subtly exaggerates the atmospheric and liminal aspects of his compositions, such as the bodily presence of the performer, so that they take on equal weight to musical elements like pitch, rhythm and timbre. He has created original compositions for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Festival, Ensemble Neon (Oslo), Mona Foma, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and Unsound Festival New York.

James is on Instagram at @james.p.rushford.

Brigid Hains

Host

Brigid Hains is the editorial director of Aeon Media. An environmental historian by training, she is driven by a deep curiosity about the natural and human worlds. The Sophia Club is a chance for Brigid to express her love of beauty and the arts, and to share the heartfelt dimensions of her intellectual life.