Time, Time, Time: The Clock
I’m on a mission to enjoy my city more – - to find time to indulge in fragments of its bounty and beauty and whimsy and whatever else. This morning before Jasper’s futsal and Livia’s tennis, before their piano and homework and the dismantling of the Christmas tree, we rose early and snuck off to MOMA to see an hour or so of Christian Marclay’s The Clock. We arrived just before ten and left at a quarter after eleven – - all four of us riveted by the urgency of time, trying to place the actor, recognize the clip … conscious, conscious. It’s gimmicky yes, at first, until the larger desperation of us collectively takes over. I also kept appreciating how the piece is an ode to structure – - how a solid, compelling structure can allow you to accomplish just about anything. Sort of like the freedom the poet finds in form. Jasper, 8, Livia, 12, want to return in the middle of the night. So do I. We may attempt this Friday at the next round the clock viewing.
Filed under: Out And About | 1 Comment
Tags: Christian Marclay, MOMA, The Clock






You can imagine how much I loved The Clock. It is a work of sheer genius. What is so incredible is that although it is all about (visual and aural) time and synchronized to Greenwich Mean Time, while you are watching, time becomes an obsolete concept, almost quaint in its nostalgic desperation to colonize human consciousness. Go back and watch it as often as you possibly can. It is an event of the century.