Time Is Away's Fictional Department of Euterpe Marks 100 Years at Warburg Institute

The artistic DJ duo Time Is Away, comprising Elaine Tierney and Jack Rollo, has created an installation and sound piece titled 'The Department of Euterpe (1926–2026)' at the Warburg Institute in London. The work, on view until 3 October 2026, imagines a fictional university department dedicated to research and speculation, blending elements of a listening room, study hall, and mixing lab. It is inspired by the Warburg Institute's Bilderatlas Mnemosyne, an ever-changing collage of images that aimed to make art-historical arguments without words. Time Is Away has translated this associative methodology into an aural format, with a seven-hour sound piece incorporating quotations from institutional records, novels by Penelope Fitzgerald and Barbara Pym, and other sources. The installation subverts traditional academic order, allowing visitors to handle objects such as pamphlets, old laptops, and paperbacks by authors like Samuel Beckett and Julian of Norwich. The project also engages with the Warburg Institute's history, which became part of the University of London in 1944 after being exiled during the rise of fascism. Time Is Away emphasizes the transformative power of knowledge and the importance of empathy in education, encouraging visitors to take time to explore and discover meanings for themselves. The installation includes office hours where visitors can listen to the duo's record collection, and the audio piece is broadcast in fragments to reach audiences beyond London.