TIMEPIECE
Multimedia installation, 2011
Tower: 8’ x 2’ x 2’
2022 produit rien, Montreal, QC
2011 Concordia University, Montreal, QC
Timepiece is 342 clocks wired together and powered from one source. It is an immersive sound installation investigating how the process of fabrication in manufactured objects in conjunction with a large quantity potentially works to exceed existing associations one has with clocks. It looks at both the audial and visual implications of being bombarded with hundreds of ticking identical clocks instead of the common experience of just one clock at a time. Timepiece unsettles the viewer in its inability to keep time, in its syncopation sounding instead like rainfall, and its awkward twitching hands resembling insect legs.
In an adjacent complimentary room are timelapse videos of the clock assembly, representing an additional method for measuring time, as well as transcripts and screenshots of websites for clock sales with Chinese manufacturers. Interestingly, all the contact people noted for the clock purchases call themselves Lily, representing another mode of fabrication, though in this case, related to identity.
Installation details (clock tower)
Duration 00:00:55 [SOUND ON]
Installation detail (clock tower assembly videos)
Duration 00:00:32
Duration 00:01:05
Installation details (transcripts of my correspondence with Lily and screenshots of clock manufacturers)
