Time takes centre stage at the National Art Gallery’s newest exhibition of a video which goes far beyond a typical cinematic experience.
The exhibit is a 24-hour film by world acclaimed visual artist Christian Marclay called The Clock. The film is made up of thousands of clips from movies and TV shows, each featuring the element of time. From a quick close up shot of a grandfather clock to a longer dramatic scene with a subtle flash of wristwatch. The hook is time in The Clock is real time.
When Holly Golightly – heroine of the iconic film Breakfast at Tiffany’s – checks the time on the watch of a man causing him to tip Champagne into a woman’s burning hairpiece while she declares, “It’s 6:45!”, rest assured it is 6:45 in the theatre as well.
Despite the challenge of using thousands of clips spanning from one second to 30 seconds, the movie has a smooth flow, says filmgoer Kelly Montgomery. “It is interesting how he linked the scenes so you would have one guy go in the door and it would close with a different guy,” she says.
Montgomery was there with friends Laurence Lue and Kari Sattler, all of whom say they had not heard of the film before and it took them a while to realize the real time aspect. Once it dawned, they say it made the movie even more appealing. “It is crazy how much work and research must have gone into it,” says Montgomery.
“Because they are such short scenes it keeps you engaged,” adds Lue.
Montgomery says she recognized a lot of the movies and enjoyed trying to guess what film each clip was taken from. From the chuckles in the theatre when certain clips came on, it is clear the audience was enjoying this as well.
Even if you are not a huge film buff the odds of you spotting a film you know are pretty high. The pool of movies the maker draws from spans from early black and white to the modern flicks of today.
“I couldn’t believe how prevalent clocks are in movies,” Montgomery says. This is something Jonathan Shaughnessy, assistant curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery, says makes the piece so unique.
“It is a profoundly moving experience to realize you are watching a visual and material manifestation of this abstract concept that governs our lives which is time,” he says.
Shaughnessy was in London, UK for the premier of the piece last year. “When I saw it I was really moved by the fact that what starts as a pretty simple conceptual idea, ‘can you make a functioning clock out of film footage,’ becomes this really evocative kind of meditation on time.”
Work began soon after for the National Gallery to acquire the piece and on Feb. 10 this year. The Clock made its Canadian debut at the gallery.
Shaughnessy says feedback has been nothing but positive. “It is the kind of work that if you haven’t seen it and you read a description you might wonder, ‘Okay, what is that all about,’ but when you see it you get it.
“You realize after you have watched it for an hour or two or eight that you are watching nothing except for time passing but it is very entertaining,” he says.
The Clock, Shaughnessy points out, is not just a film, it is an art installation. “That is something that the artist Christian Marclay stipulates,” he says, “It is meant for galleries, it is an installation and it is an experience.
“When you are sitting there immersed in the gallery, in the experience of the whole artwork, you realize basically in the modern and contemporary age film has defined time for us in many ways.”
Important to note is the time of day you see it. Shaughnessy explains that if you want to see how life is portrayed at three in the morning with all its insomnia, dream sequences and murders, you have to go see it at three in the morning.
“The sun rising at 6 a.m., at 6 a.m., is quite something,” he adds.
The Clock runs at the National Gallery this March and is free with the cost of admission to the gallery. There is a 24-hour viewing every Thursday beginning at 10 a.m.