MAARTEN BAAS | GRANDFATHER CLOCK - THE FATHER INFO SHEET
MAARTEN BAAS | GRANDFATHER CLOCK - THE FATHER 2018 BRASS, BRONZE, DIGITAL EQUIPMENT H221 L65 W45 CM / H87 L25.6 W17.7 IN LIMITED EDITION OF 8 + 4 AP MAARTEN BAAS | GRANDFATHER CLOCK - THE FATHER INFO SHEET MAARTEN BAAS | GRANDFATHER CLOCK - THE FATHER INFO SHEET MAARTEN BAAS | GRANDFATHER CLOCK - THE FATHER INFO SHEET MAARTEN BAAS | GRANDFATHER CLOCK - THE FATHER INFO SHEET MAARTEN BAAS | GRANDFATHER CLOCK - THE FATHER INFO SHEET
Grandfather Clock - The Father (2018), by leading Dutch designer Maarten Baas, is an engaging mix of raw simplicity and conceptual performance.
Where disembodied hands would usually tick, here a person lives within the clock itself, constantly drawing and redrawing the correct time onto the inside of the clock face, minute by minute. This 12-hour digital performance is housed within brass and bronze bodywork standing over two-metres tall, replacing the traditional internal mechanisms and revitalising the analogue connotations of the classic floor clock design.
Formally similar to Christian Marclay’s video timepiece The Clock (2010), Baas’ performance serves as a modern day momento mori, drawing attention to that which is usually avoided at all costs - the awareness of time passing. Baas’ conception is captivating, and visually reinforces the notion of time as a human invention.
The work is from the artist’s Real Time series, which was first introduced in 2009 at the Salone del Mobile, Milan, and now encompasses his Grandfather Clocks, Film Clocks and the specially commissioned Schiphol Clock for Amsterdam’s international airport. His most notable editions of these include the Grandfather Clock currently on display at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and the Sweeper’s Clock for which he won the Artprize in 2016.
Maarten Baas is considered one of the most influential designers of the 21 st century. Now based in his studio in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, he graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2002 and by 2009 had been named ‘Designer of the Year’ at Design Basel/Miami. His work can be found in prestigious museums such as MoMA, New York, the V&A, London, and Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris, as well as in the private collections of Brad Pitt and Kanye West.
Baas is known to occupy a unique position in the field of design, blending conceptual, installation, and performance art with his craftmanship. This Grandfather Clock is a fitting example of his intellectual and theatrical style, as he invites his audience to lose themselves in the intimate drama of the work as time flies around them. It’s an addictive sensation, made intensely personal due to the one-on-one nature of the experience.
But what makes this clock tick? The inner workings of this timepiece, while less intricate than the 17 th century creations of Thomas Tompion or Christiaan Huygens, are presented as similarly incomprehensible. As if to offer answers, a brass key tantalisingly protrudes from the locked door, perhaps waiting to reveal the grandfather’s torso inside, or even a pendulum hanging unused. The translucent clock face only allows the viewer a limited view into Baas’ imagined world, leaving room for mystery and his typical tongue-in-cheek humour. The tireless performance of the personified grandfather doesn’t give away any clues as to whether he is enslaved by time, or dictating it. Whatever his motivations, to the viewer his task seems Sisyphean in nature, as without fail each of his efforts are erased 60 seconds later.
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