Human-Powered Clocks by Maarten Baas Physically Mark the Passage of Time

Dutch artist Maarten Baas produces artworks that lay at the intersection of visual art, performance, and design, creating manual clocks that are erased and redrawn on the stroke of each minute. In pieces like Grandfather Clock and Schiphol Clock Baas places himself within the structure of the time-telling devices, functioning as the works’ human mechanism. Other pieces from his Real Time series use the assistance of another performer to create 12-hour films, such as a line of perpetually swept trash doubling as a clock arm. Baas began the time-based series in 2009 at the Salone Del Mobile in Milan, Italy, and has a current piece in the group exhibition Design by Time at the Pratt Institute through April 13, 2019. You can see more of his works on his website, Instagram, and Vimeo, and in the videos below.