Any time, any place and many me
" I was interested in time models and how ideas about them could be applied to books. I stumbled across Watchmen. And I was fascinated how Alan Moore had endowed his character Dr. Manhattan with a perception of time that is not embedded into a linear flow like everything else in the story. I wondered what would arise if a reader could share Dr. Manhattan’s perception of time and then read the story ‘all at present.’ What would happen then to Alan Moore’s construction of ‘story-time“? And to Alan Moore, if he were to witness this?”- Christoph Rothmeier 2011
Rothmeier’s artwork is an adaption of the graphic novel Watchmen (DC Comics, 1986/87) by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Targeted dissection of all the storyboards throughout the book reduces the story to the appearance of one single character, Dr. Manhattan. In constructing this character, creator Alan Moore took his inspiration from nuclear and quantum physics. Moore believed that a character who lived in a quantum universe would not perceive time from a linear perspective. According to the original story, the superhero endowed with supernatural powers such as precognition, transmutation, telekinesis, and teleportation perceives time as being a permanently present state, or his own status as an “omnipresence” of his person in time. He becomes estranged from human habits, ending up as a stand-alone entity. In Any Time, Any Place, and Many Me, Dr. Manhattan remains the only figure left in the book, literally standing alone, visible at all stages of the story; the story’s sequential progression merges into simultaneity, and the linear aspect of time becomes three-dimensional.
Artist's statement and Project description:, Abot - Artists´ books on tour - Catalog, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walter könig, Köln, 20