Richard Brautigan’s poem, published in 1975, is a meditation on attention and life’s brief fleeting journey. In the aftermath of a pandemic year that found most of us in isolation not gathering with friends or loved ones, we’ve had more opportunity for reflection. Despite the anxiety that has permeated our lives, we are also reminded that sustained attention on life’s beauty is essential to our health. The realignment of our work life, home life, and socially distant year in quarantine has provided some of us with opportunities to reflect, like in the poem, on matters of consequence. Art, music and literature do this for us. Shared experiences are reflected back through the meditation of the maker. As seconds tick by and days blend one into another, artists refine their practice and present us with a reflection of who we are. This is the underpinning of culture.

Seconds refer to a unit of time, but can also refer to one in support of another, or the next in line. Gallery 16, after 28 years has lost its lease and at least for now, has no permanent home. So we are pleased to be partnering with Minnesota Street Project who has offered their atrium as a temporary second location. We believe that the gallery model, with all its faults, is – at its best – a real, true social network. One not dominated by devices, followers or selfies, but built through real people gathering together and exchanging ideas. It is one of the world’s greatest machines for supporting creative labor–not as a market function–but as an important political and cultural forum to amplify the ideas and agency of artists. We encourage everyone to visit and remember that in a far too hostile and literal world, creativity challenges us to feel, think and connect to our common humanity. If nothing else, art teaches us that we are part of something much greater than ourselves.