Christian Marclay - The Clock

Christian Marclay - The Clock
OPENING DATE: Tuesday 20 February 2018
CLOSING DATE: Saturday 19 May 2018

24-hour screening of The Clock
March 22, April 26, & May 10, 2018

Tel Aviv Museum of Art is proud to present Christian Marclay’s The Clock (2010). Marclay’s internationally acclaimed video installation The Clock (2010) is composed of thousands of film excerpts that indicate the time of day with clocks, watches, or references in the dialogue, constructing a 24-hour montage that unfolds in real time. Synchronized to the local time at each exhibition venue, The Clock deconstructs and challenges the narratives of individual scenes by removing them from their original context and inserting them into another, where time itself becomes the protagonist. At the same time, our natural, established perception of time is tested and challenged by the work’s many different narratives, which have no beginning or end. An unorthodox anthology of a hundred years of cinema, it is a mixture of genres, eras and locations, of iconic films and lesser known movies, and of movie stars, some of whom appear several times in different periods of their career , attesting to the transience of life.

The Clock functions as a giant clock—as a metaphor for, and a meditation on time. It demonstrates how much time we spend watching: TV, computer screens, movies and, of course, our cell phones. In fact, The Clock is a monumental memento mori—as we watch it we literally watch our lives ticking away. As Joan Didion commented: ”we tell ourselves stories in order to live, while reminding us that we are all going to die.”

The intricate soundtrack of The Clock is equally important as its virtuosic editing. Collage has been a recurring strategy for Marclay since the late 1970s when, as a pioneering turntablist, he began mixing sounds and recordings before turning to an ever-wider range of media, including sculpture, photography and performance. His video work often involves audiovisual assemblage compiled from film excerpts, re-contextualizing fragments of modern and contemporary movie culture into new creative compositions.

With the support of The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and the Young Friends of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art

The Clock is on loan from The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, purchased through the gift of the Ostrovsky Family Fund; joint acquisition with Centre Pompidou, Paris and Tate Gallery, London.