Discussions about the ever-increasing pace of modern life have long been commonplace in artistic and humanistic thought. In response to this general acceleration, the concept of "slowness" emerged—that is, the artificial slowing down of life, including through the means of visual art. In his book, Lutz Koepnick explores this phenomenon and analyzes artistic practices that engage "with the expanded structure of time and with strategies of doubt, deferment, and procrastination that allow us to slow down and experience the heterogeneous, multifaceted flow of the present." These include the films of Peter Weir and Werner Herzog, the photographs of Willie Doherty and Hiroyuki Masuyama, and the media works of Olafur Eliasson and Janet Cardiff. The author is convinced that these experiments stem not from nostalgia for an idyllic past, but from a desire to penetrate the essence of the present and reflect on the nature of time. Lutz Koepnick is a professor at Vanderbilt University, specializing in visual art and intellectual history.