Liberating clocks

exploring other possible futures

Michelle Bastian

pp. 369-377

in: Elisa Felicitas Arias, Ludwig Combrinck, Pavel Gabor, Catherine Hohenkerk (eds), The science of time 2016, Berlin, Springer, 2017

Abstract

This paper suggests that alongside concerns regarding the future of precision timekeeping, there is also a need to discuss the future of timekeeping in social life. Pointing to the way that maps are created to fit a range of different user needs, I ask whether methods of telling the time might also be made more open to experimentation and redesign. In order to provide examples of how this could be done, I draw together a range of projects by artists and designers who are using clocks in unexpected ways. Looking at examples that particularly focus on social aspects of environmental issues, I show how the clock can be a useful tool for highlighting alternative ways of keeping time. Drawing on work in temporal design, developed in collaboration with designers Larissa Pschetz and Chris Speed, this paper suggests a new development in the field of horology, towards a critical horology that emphasises the political, social and environmental aspects of timekeeping.