Christian Marclay

The Clock

April 06 - June 02, 2013

SFMOMA will present the San Francisco premiere of artist Christian Marclay's internationally heralded masterpiece — and winner of the Golden Lion at the 2011 Venice Biennale — The Clock (2010). Constructed from thousands of film clips indicating the passage of time, the work excerpts these moments from their original contexts and edits them together to form a 24-hour video montage that unfolds in real time. The Clock is synchronized with local time so that minutes and hours depicted in the work also pass simultaneously in the viewer's real time. Spanning countless periods and genres, The Clock features time-related moments both iconic and obscure — often showcasing a clock or watch — ranging from silent classics and action blockbusters to Westerns and foreign films. The exhibition will take place during SFMOMA's final months in its current building before it temporarily closes for expansion construction and launches into extensive off-site programming in June 2013.