matthew rasmussen

Art & Time is a multimedia Visual Arts course that introduces students to conceptual and time-based art practices, and to techniques in video art, performance art, and kinetic sculpture. This first assignment was inspired by contemporary works of art such as “The Clock” (2011) by Christian Marclay, and “Real Time: Sweepers Clock” (2009) by Maarten Baas. Each of the aforementioned works are 24-hour-long single channel videos that depict the passage of time. Marclay edited together thousands of clips from cinema and television history, creating a montage that is also a functioning timepiece. Baas filmed performers sweeping trash into lines that, from above, move and function like the hands of a clock.

For this assignment, each student was asked to film themselves “performing the time” for one hour. Each of their hour-long 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 maketimetaketime.com to see the project in action on your personal computer.

To view each video individually, visit our “ArtandTime” Channel on YouTube.