The Power Plant

The Clock (2010) is a unique and compelling work created by world-renowned sound and video artist Christian Marclay. The work is an ode to time and cinema, and is comprised of thousands of fragments from a vast range of films that create a 24-hour, looped, single-channel video. Marclay compiled thousands of film clips of wristwatches, clock towers, sundials, alarm clocks, and countdowns, each of which illustrate every minute in a 24-hour period.

Years in the making, The Clock examines how time, plot, and duration are depicted in cinema. Although the audience can use the piece to tell the local time, viewers can experience a vast range of cinematic settings and moods within the space of a few minutes, making time unravel in countless directions and rupturing any sense of linear, narrative sequence. The work is both an homage to film history and an affirmation of our present time.

Marclay’s fascination with the collage of sound and image dates back to the late 1970s. Marclay played music with bands in underground club scenes, often using homemade instruments such as a record turntable converted into a portable electric guitar-like device. His innovative artistic practice continues to combine aural and visual sources with a keen sensibility toward complex editing, sampling and looping techniques. Marclay’s experimental work with sound, video and film has been extremely influential on a younger generation of artists for whom the idea of digital sampling and mixing recordings is now a given.

The Clock has been viewed with critical acclaim at venues around the world since premiering at White Cube, London in 2010. It was jointly acquired by the National Gallery of Canada and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Notes to Visitors

• Admission is FREE. Visitors are admitted on a first-come, first-served basis.

• During this closing weekend, expect significant wait time of at least an hour, or longer during peak times.

• Visitors will be required to check their bags.

Inside the Installation

• Once inside the installation, visitors are invited to stay as long as they like. The installation has couches to accommodate 50 visitors at one time.

• Food and beverages, cameras and recording devices, cell phones, and other electronic devices are prohibited.

• There are brief periods of nudity and strong language during The Clock. This exhibition is recommended for visitors no younger than 7 years of age. Visitors with children should use their discretion.

• This exhibition is wheelchair accessible.

Special 24-hour Viewing Periods

The Power Plant offers special 24-hour viewing periods of this compelling work throughout the run of the exhibition to enable viewers to see it in its entirety.

14 September, 5 PM - 16 September, 5 PM (Opening weekend) 29 September, 10 AM - 30 September, 5 PM (Scotiabank Nuit Blanche) 16 October, 10 AM - 21 October, 5 PM (Watch-A-Thon) 27 October, 10 AM - 28 October, 5 PM (Art Toronto) 22 November, 10 AM - MIDNIGHT 23 November, 10 AM - 25 November, MIDNIGHT (Closing weekend)

Fall 2012 Program Guide