Good art can seem to stop time. It pulls us out of the relentless progression of minutes and brings us to the threshold of the present moment. As technology speeds us up, the grounding antidote of art — a Beethoven piano sonata, a Cézanne painting, an episode of “Louis” — grows even more necessary.

Two exhibitions, “Passing Time,” at the Sandra & David Bakalar Gallery at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and “Slowness,” at Howard Art Project, explore our perceptions of time.