josh cohen literally kills times in his latest short video

brooklyn-based creative josh cohen explores the concept of time and our perceptions of it in his video titled ‘killing time’. this most recent piece, which sees someone quite literally destroy time, follows his amusing ‘how not to touch your face in contagious times’, which designboom shared back in april 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. 

all images and video courtesy of josh cohen

in this video, cohen plays on the commonly-used english idiom, to kill time, which literally means to engage in something, usually aimless, just to pass a few minutes or full hours of the day. with the global health pandemic and nationwide lockdowns, time also took on different meanings in the past year as people had to stay at home and find new ways to occupy themselves. banana bread, anyone?

‘we’re all looking for ways to make the most out of our limited time here on earth,’  says cohen. ‘this past year I found time to be completely askew.’

the short takes viewers to an open field in a nondescript location. a small white wall stands amid the greenery with a clock that resembles the ones found in school classrooms. the following frames see someone then literally kill time with a bow and arrow, a gun, and finally by setting it on fire.