Working at the intersection of sculpture, photography, and urban architecture, the German Persian artist Bettina Pousttchi bends time and space to subtly question identities or move among multiple ones. Her two new exhibitions coinciding in Berlin—at Berlinische Galerie and KINDL—offer a perfect crash course on the artist’s world. From glazed turn-of-the-century ceramic building blocks, demonstrating urbanization at a specific place and moment in time, to the enactment of colonization through global clocks, her oeuvre is timely. But does she go far enough? It seems only time—or, more precisely, clocks—can tell.

The particles of granite dust in the air mixed with the 35mm film grain transform into a shimmering, surreal surface in the burning sun. This glowing “skin” is woven all through the film, becoming darker and darker as it reappears in the extended shots of the ocean, so endless that it almost looks rendered in 3D.