Back to the Fields at Camden Arts Centre, London NW3

AMONG the many transformations following the French revolution of 1789 was the introduction of the republican calendar.

Its life span was a mere 12 years from 1793 onwards, though it made a brief reappearance in the days of the 1871 Paris Commune.

It stripped the Gregorian calendar of any religious or royalist connotations and replaced it with one based on the decimal system.

In collaboration with artists and agriculturalists, seasons and days were renamed by the revolutionary government to reflect the natural cycle, technology and agricultural production — thus March 21-April 19 became Germinal (Germination) and September 22-October 21 was redesignated as Vendemiaire (Grape Harvest).

That collaboration between the state and artists is the inspiration for Ruth Ewan’s installation Back to the Fields, in which each of the 365 days of the year is represented by mineral, organic or manmade objects, ranging from salt (January 11) to an artichoke (June 30) to a plough (October 31).

Positioned around the four walls of the gallery at floor level, the exhibition is a combination of historical artefacts, unadorned natural elements and — at times an intrusive contemporary touch — potted trees, flowers and fish tubs culled from garden centres and nurseries.

While it’s an eclectic and intriguing mix, the installation does not of itself provide any clear divisions between the months represented by the objects on display which, given their number, are crowded together with each assigned a numbered disc on the floor.

Therefore the rhythm of viewing is continuously interrupted by having to consult the guide to the exhibition, a distraction which might have been avoided by colour-coded references delineating the months and days at eye level.

That cavil aside this free exhibition is certainly worth a look, not least because it prompts reflection on Ewan’s attempt to demonstrate how the radical intent of the revolutionary period became embodied in the calendar and on her question of whether any kind of continuity can be traced from that turbulent era to the present day.

One of the republican calendar’s innovations, governed by the decimal imperative, was to introduce five “sanculottides” — festival days — which replaced religious holidays with days designated as Virtue, Talent, Labour, Conviction, Honour and, during leap years, Revolution.

That’s an innovation which promotes reflection as to what might have been had the revolution succeeded — as does the decimal clock on the wall outside the exhibition space with the hours numbered from 1-10 — are these failed utopian ideals or experiments still worthy of reconsideration?

The exhibition doesn’t provide any answers but Ewan is to be commended in posing such questions in this innovative fashion.

Runs until March 29, opening times: camdenartscentre.org