Roger Cox: The Prompt

LATER this month, the Dovecot studios in Edinburgh will play host to an exhibition called Taking Time. It's unlikely that you'll have seen the show puffed in any of those "things to see in 2010" lists – at time of going to press it doesn't even feature on the Dovecot's own website – but despite its low profile, it could turn out to be one of the most zeitgeisty arts events of the year.

Curated by the ceramicist and academic Helen Carnac, Taking Time will feature work by 19 artists and craftspeople from all over the world who have been grouped together because they have values and philosophies in common with the Slow Movement. Which doesn't simply mean they all work veeery slooowly. The Slow Movement is a blanket term referring to a loose grouping of organisations and individuals interested in curing the affliction known as "time poverty". If you've ever thought "stop the world, I want to get off" then you have something in common with the Slows.

The Slow Movement has been around for decades, but until recently it has never really made much of an impact.

As early as 1932, the philosopher Bertrand Russell warned "there is far too much work done in the world". People worked harder.

In 1990, the Society for the Deceleration of Time was established in Austria to combat overwork and promote a more conscious way of living. It didn't exactly set the edelweiss alight: at the last count it only had 700 members.

In 1999, the Norwegian motivational speaker, Geir Berthelsen, established The World Institute of Slowness and coined the term "slow travel". Journeying slowly from place to place, meeting local people along the way, he argued, could be an enriching experience. Cue a decade-long explosion in the popularity of budget air travel.

But never mind, because now, at last, the conditions are perfect for a Slow Revolution. In the wake of the global mega-recession, people are starting to ask searching questions. Questions like: "Is endless economic growth necessarily a good thing?" "Could there be a better way of measuring the wealth of nations than a crude statistic like GDP?" and "How come I've only seen my kids three times in the past six months?" And, of course, concepts like slow travel and slow food start to make a lot more sense in a world suddenly obsessed with reducing its carbon footprint.

What does any of this have to do with art? Walk to the Dovecot at a leisurely pace on 16 January and find out.

• This article first appeared in Scotland on Sunday on 3 January, 2010