The Clock by Christian Marclay is a 24-hour video work that takes viewers through a century of cinematic history. Since its debut in London in 2010 and its win of the Golden Lion at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011, it has become a global sensation, exhibited in major museums such as MoMA in New York, Tate London, Yokohama, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the MCA in Sydney. Now, it comes to Berlin for the first time.

Captivating audiences across the world since its debut in 2010, The Clock is a thrilling and poignant montage of thousands of film and television clips that depict clocks or reference time. Following several years of rigorous and painstaking research and production, Marclay edited these excerpts to create an immersive visual and sonic experience. This landmark work operates as a gripping journey through cinematic history as well as a functioning timepiece. The installation is synchronised to local time wherever it is on display, transforming artificial ‘cinematic time’ into a sensation of real time inside the gallery.

Combining clips spanning 100 years of well-known and obscure films, including thrillers, westerns and science fiction, audiences watching The Clock experience a vast range of narratives, settings and moods within the space of a few minutes, allowing time to unravel in countless directions at once.

The Clock is neither good nor bad, but sublime – perhaps the greatest film you will ever see,

stated Zadie Smith in the New York Review of Books.

In a newly constructed cinema space within the Mies Glass Hall, The Clock is on view daily during regular opening hours, from Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 8 pm. On selected weekend nights, visitors will also have the opportunity to experience the full 24-hour work.

Watching The Clock for 24 hours might sound like torture. Yet, it is strangely addictive, and visitors often stay far longer than they planned. You can't lose track of time, yet somehow, it slips away from you,

wrote Holly Williams in the New York Times on 9 October 2018.

Christian Marclay (born 1955) grew up in Switzerland and lives and works in London. Over the past 40 years, he has explored the fusion of fine art and audio cultures, transforming sound and music into visible, physical forms through performance, collage, sculpture, installation, photography, and video.

24-Hour Screenings of „The Clock“ during the Exhibition Run

On several occasions the Neue Nationalgalerie will offer a special after-hours viewing of Christian Marclay’s The Clock (2010), a 24-hour montage composed from thousands of film and television clips depicting clocks and other references to time. These are very rare opportunities to witness Marclay’s cinematic masterpiece in its epic entirety.

Temporary Café in the Glass Hall

Alongside the exhibition, the new temporary café by Five Elephant welcomes guests in the glass hall — a space to pause, look outward, and take in the architecture. Daily newspapers and magazines are available free of charge. The café is open to all museum visitors as well as the general public.

Curators

The exhibition is curated by Klaus Biesenbach and Lisa Botti.

The exhibition is made possible by FREUNDE der Nationalgalerie.

A special exhibition of the Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin