Ralston Farina
1946–1985
Introduction
Ralston Farina (1945–1985, born Steven Robert Snyder), was an artist associated with the downtown performance scene of Manhattan from the 1960s to the 1980s, and who created performances centered around the experience and philosophy of time, including audience-responsive techniques.
He formulated a concept for his performance and aesthetic philosophy called "Time // Time," influenced by peers like Laurie Anderson and Scott Burton, and encouraged by John Cage. Cage, who Farina maintained a correspondence with, was known for making compositions such as 4′33″ that dealt with time as a medium, and for popularizing the idea of chance-operations among fine artists. Other influences on Farina's conception of time included philosophers Henri Bergson, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Edmund Husserl.
He sometimes used "Time Art" as an alias, as well as "Zeitkunst." For most of his career, Farina forbade documentation of his work, afraid that his methods would be stolen.
Ralston Farina is a pun on Ralston Purina, the popular cat food brand.
Wikidata identifier
Q19298926
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed January 30, 2026.
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