'O'Clock: Time Design, Design Time' show, Milan

As its name insists, 'O'Clock: Time Design, Design Time' at Milan's Triennale Design Museum explores the concept of time keeping with a selection of artworks including 'Scented Time', designed by Italy-based Studio Sovrappensiero in 2008

(Image credit: TBC)

By Ellen Himelfarb

last updated 7 August 2022

in Features

Damien Hirst was on to something when he incorporated watches by the Florentine manufacturer Panerai into his high-profile artworks - first in 2005 with 'Skull with Watch', and then with 'The Tranquility of Solitude (for George Dyer)' in 2006 and 'Killing Time' in 2008. For one thing, those installations earned him millions at auction. But more recently they've inspired the watchmaker to sponsor an exhibition at Milan's Triennale Design Museum, inviting dozens of artists and designers to explore the concept of time in their work.

'O'Clock: Time Design, Design Time' incorporates work from designers and artists Marc Newson, Darren Almond and Maarten Baas, among others. The exhibits, chosen from existing collections and commissioned specifically for the Triennale, meditate on memory, eternity and death, often wittily and poetically, always critically.

Perhaps unsurprisingly Hirst's latest work - an installation incorporating Panerai watch components - is given pride of place. Meanwhile, designer Patricia Urquiola, who helped produce the exhibition and conceive its layout, has devised the finale: a timeline of the Panerai brand, featuring a sequence of watches as characters in a narrative.

But museum curators Silvana Annicchiarico and Jan van Rossem have also foraged for lesser-known designers, in whose work time is of the essence. The Brazilian creative technologist João Wilbert, working for Benetton's creative lab Fabrica, has contributed his 'Exquisite Clock', a series of interactive screens that flash images of everyday objects resembling numbers (bottlecaps, rolls of tape, rubber gloves) as visitors upload them. And Italy's own Studio Sovrappensiero offers up its highly flammable 2008 waxwork 'Scented Time', evidence that all your five senses will be called on to participate.

Thorunn Arnadottir's 'Sasa Clock' comprises painted-wood beads hung over a slowly turning carousel. A bead slips down the cord every five minutes

Grandfather clock — In 'Grandfather Clock' by Maarten Baas, the face is a screen displaying a 12-hour loop of a man drawing the hands of a clock

Sunflower clock — Damien Hirst, a personal fan of Panerai watches, the exhibition's sponsor, has incorporated them into his work on several occasions. He uses Panerai watch components in his 'Beautiful Sunflower' works for the O'Clock exhibit

Sand clock — Albin Karlsson's evolving sculpture, '0.5gr/minute', from 2005. The sandcastle builds gradually as, each minute, half a gram of sand (mixed with glue) is let go from a rotating machine in the roof

Cuckoo clock — Michael Sans crucifies the traditional cuckoo clock with this 2008 life-sized version, arranged like an albatross with a digital clock around its neck. It's called, simply, 'Cuckoo Clock'

60 digital watches connected in a circle — '60 seconds' by Ignacio Uriarte features 60 digital wristwatches linked to one another, each programmed a second ahead of the last. Every hour an alarm beep goes off around the circle

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Triennale Design Museum viale Alemagna 6 Milan

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Based in London, Ellen Himelfarb travels widely for her reports on architecture and design. Her words appear in The Times, The Telegraph, The World of Interiors, and The Globe and Mail in her native Canada. She has worked with Wallpaper* since 2006.