LACMA Presents 24 Hour Screening of Newly Acquired Artwork

(Los Angeles, May 9, 2011)—The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) presents a 24-hour screening of Christian Marclay’s The Clock (2010), recently purchased with funds provided by LACMA Trustee Steve Tisch through the 2011 Collectors Committee. It will be screened for free in LACMA’s Bing Theater from 11 am on Monday, May 16, through 11 am on Tuesday, May 17. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, no reservations.

The Clock, a 24-hour single-channel montage, is constructed from thousands of moments in cinema and television history depicting the passage of time; scenes in which all manner of clocks and reference to time appear. Marclay has excerpted each of these moments from their original contexts and edited them together to create a functioning timepiece synchronized to local time wherever it is viewed—marking the exact time in real time for the viewer for 24 consecutive hours. The Clock weaves together Marclay’s interests in collage and found visual and aural artifacts with his own roots in live performance. The sampled clips come from films of all genres, time periods, and cultures, some lasting only seconds, others minutes, and have been culled from hundreds of films, famous and obscure, into a seamless whole. The result, a melding of video and reality, unfolds with a seemingly endless cast of cameos.

“This initial screening will allow The Clock to be seen in the way Marclay intended, by making it available in its entirety,” said Michael Govan, LACMA’s CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to allow visitors to see this seminal work free of charge.”

Image credits:

Christian Marclay, Details from The Clock, 2010, Purchased with funds provided by Steve Tisch through 2011 Collectors Committee The Clock © Christian Marclay, courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York

Christian Marclay, Details from The Clock, 2010, Purchased with funds provided by Steve Tisch through 2011 Collectors Committee The Clock © Christian Marclay, courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York

Christian Marclay, Details from The Clock, 2010, Purchased with funds provided by Steve Tisch through 2011 Collectors Committee The Clock © Christian Marclay, courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York

Christian Marclay, Details from The Clock, 2010, Purchased with funds provided by Steve Tisch through 2011 Collectors Committee The Clock © Christian Marclay, courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York