Borrowed Time

Jonas Mayer, who has his roots in Saarbrücken, moves between the everyday urban landscape and artistic intervention. In his works, graffiti is understood not merely as decoration, but as a form of mark-making that adheres to the very skin of architecture, thereby revealing the history of its use, conflict and appropriation. In Mayer’s installation for the Urban Art Biennale 2026, time and space are thrown into disarray. The alarm clock seems almost to have fled the picture, yet it is impossible to make out the time anyway, as the numerals have become jumbled and the distorted hands point into the void. The yellow balls on the floor give the impression of having just fallen out of the canvas. Like the alarm clock, they have been stripped of their everyday function, appearing as an unfulfillable promise of playfulness and lightness.