Make Time, Take Time

This semester I am teaching a class called Art & Time at Bowdoin College. My first assignment was inspired by “The Clock” (2011) by Christian Marclay, and “Real Time: Sweepers Clock” (2009) by Maarten Baas. Each student was asked to film themselves “performing the time” for one hour. Each of their videos functions as a clock, accurately depicting the passing minutes in either analog or digital form. The video documentation of their performances have been sequenced to create a 24-hour-long “YouTube clock,” which can be viewed on the website maketimetaketime.com. Philadelphia-based artist Ryan Hinkel has designed the website so that it synchronizes the videos with the local time on a visitor’s computer. The site is ultimately a functioning clock, literally “playing the time” from the moment you arrive.

Please visit the site to see the project in action on your personal computer. To view each video individually, visit our “ArtandTime” Channel on YouTube.

(The video above is one that I made with Mike Fleming for 3:00-4:00 AM, sped up to be one minute long).