Time is of the essence in human affairs. In the 18th century, geology discovered its unfathomable depths and the sciences sought to place every organism on a timeline. Just as the earth acquired a history, architecture and art found ways of locating themselves in a perspective that vanishes in the anthropocene, urging fresh inquiry into artistic perception. Whether we consider the city a heap of materials, the Eiffel Tower a metallurgical monument comparable to Richard Wagner's lengthy operas, or capture an angle of Paris in a sketch Alberto Giacometti made in the brief interval of changing traffic lights, the ways we behold things and experience them always bears the imprint of (father) time.