”O’Clock” by Nadine Grenier, a student at ESAD Strasbourg in France, is a kinetic installation made from 300 analog clocks set in sequence to display this sentence every 12 hours when their hands come into alignment: “le temps passe, et chaque fois qu’il y a du temps passe, il y a quelque chose qui s’efface.” The quote is from Jules Romains, a French poet, which roughly translates in “Time passes, and every time the time passes, there is something that fades”.
“O’Clock” via Today and Tomorrow
4 thoughts on “Clocks create letters when synced”
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How do they deal with drift between the clocks? Even a good quartz movement can gain or lose a second a day. After a few months they’ll be out enough that the message will be hard to read.
I guess this can be the “something that fades” in the quote and it’s forced to be a temporary installation.
I’d wager the drift never crossed her mind…I don’t think many people realize their clocks don’t keep perfect time.
However, that’s a great insight on the “something that fades” aspect. I like it.
Excellent installation, too.