Time bandit: Alicja Kwade installs 16 ft clock at Central Park
Alicja Kwade installs 16 ft clock at Central Park
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

With another new spin on clock-based art, the Polish-born, Berlin-based sculptor and installation artist Alicja Kwade (opens in new tab) is taking her rendition of time telling to new heights. Manhattan's Public Art Fund just installed Against the Run – Kwade's first solo public art commission in the United States – at the entrance to Central Park, directly opposite the storied Plaza Hotel.
For Kwade's most recent sculptural installation, she took her cues from the classic Manhattan street clock, much like the one directly in front of the Sherry Netherland Hotel, turning out a 16-ft-tall aluminium timepiece. Her work tells the time in a rather novel way – the face moves counter clockwise while the hour and minute hands turn in the opposite direction.
'There's a double take when a passerby glances up to check the time and all of a sudden realises that the clock is functioning in a way that no standard clock should,' points out Nicholas Baume, Public Art Fund Director.
The perplexing nature of this conceptual artwork presents a bevy of questions, which just happens to be Kwade’s intention. ‘It doesn’t claim to be a work of art in the first moment you encounter it,’ she explains, while installing her latest work.
‘Instinctively people look up at a clock’s face when they see one. But this one is different. With just some small changes, it becomes difficult to read and seems like it’s trying to escape itself. That’s what we all try to do, but we can’t, and it can’t also,’ she adds.'I hope to create a surprising moment for each person to reflect on their feelings towards time.’ Telling the time may be the never same again.
Against the Run tells the time in a rather a novel way – the face moves counter clockwise while the hour and minute hands turn in the opposite direction
The perplexing nature of this conceptual artwork presents a bevy of questions, which just happens to be Kwade’s intention. ‘It doesn’t claim to be a work of art in the first moment you encounter it,’ she says.
INFORMATION
Alicja Kwade’s Against the Run will be on view until 21 February
ADDRESS
Doris C Freedman Plaza
Opposite Fifth Avenue entrance to Central Park at 59th Street
VIEW GOOGLE MAPS (opens in new tab)
-
Under-the-radar bag labels to know
From New Zealand to Japan, get to know the under-the-radar bag labels eschewing trends in favour of long-lasting good design
By Tilly Macalister-Smith • Published
-
Rala Choi: ‘Now is the time to ask photographers about what photography is’
We profile rising star photographer Rala Choi, whose vivid, ethereal images draw on the legacies of art history
By Sophie Gladstone • Published
-
Strayer watch sees industrial designer Ola Stray overhaul Swedish watch design
Ola Stray’s interchangeable mechanical Strayer watch nods to both contemporary and classic inspirations
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
Ryoji Ikeda and Grönlund-Nisunen saturate Berlin gallery in sound, vision and visceral sensation
At Esther Schipper gallery Berlin, artists Ryoji Ikeda and Grönlund-Nisunen draw on the elemental forces of sound and light in a meditative and disorienting joint exhibition
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
London art exhibitions: a guide for early 2023
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, and those around the UK, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Harriet Lloyd Smith • Published
-
Cecilia Vicuña’s ‘Brain Forest Quipu’ wins Best Art Installation in the 2023 Wallpaper* Design Awards
Brain Forest Quipu, Cecilia Vicuña's Hyundai Commission at Tate Modern, has been crowned 'Best Art Installation' in the 2023 Wallpaper* Design Awards
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Michael Heizer’s Nevada ‘City’: the land art masterpiece that took 50 years to conceive
Michael Heizer’s City in the Nevada Desert (1972-2022) has been awarded ‘Best eighth wonder’ in the 2023 Wallpaper* design awards. We explore how this staggering example of land art came to be
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Cerith Wyn Evans: ‘I love nothing more than neon in direct sunlight. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful’
Cerith Wyn Evans reflects on his largest show in the UK to date, at Mostyn, Wales – a multisensory, neon-charged fantasia of mind, body and language
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
The best 7 Christmas installations in London for art lovers
As London decks its halls for the festive season, explore our pick of the best Christmas installations for the art-, design- and fashion-minded
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Pulse Topology in Miami is powered by heartbeats
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer brings heart and human connection to Miami Art Week 2022 with Pulse Topology, an interactive light installation at Superblue Miami in collaboration with BMW i
By Fiona Mahon • Last updated
-
Textile artists: the pioneers of a new material world
These contemporary textile artists are weaving together the rich tapestry of fibre art in new ways
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published