We are Here But is It Now?
(The Submarine Horizons of Contemporaneity)

In a dialogue between a deep‑sea diver and a shipwrecked rhinoceros, this text reframes the present as a drifting, submarine horizon—one that arrives unevenly across contexts and often eludes capture, unlike the more predictable arc of the future. Drawing on maritime and temporal metaphors, the essay assembles a cast of figures—from the wise to the visionary—to map the hidden currents of our shared “now” and argues that naming the present requires a new, collective vocabulary.
Text by Raqs, Published as a monograph for ‘The Contemporary Condition Series’, series editors Geoff Cox + Jacob Lund, 2017