The Clock, a piece from north-american artist Christian Marclay, is a 24 hours experience in which the artist tries to represent every single minute of a day. The result, which took three years to be produced, is a film composed by thousands of movie clips.

The Clock comes to Lisbon after a tour of London, New York and Paris that made the piece a hit. When it was premiered five years ago it was welcomed with rave reviews and it’s easy to understand why. Contemporary art is often megalamaniac, but rarely so on point with the way we live and our perception of the world.

After all, The Clock is a real life clock in which every clip is aligned with real time.

When questioned if some minutes were harder to find, Marclay laughed and told us that even though we don’t remember it, it’s possible to find every minute of our time in the wide array of film that has been produced. This obsession, that led him to work twelve hours a day in this project creates a a relationship between every clip shown. It’s a 24 hour art-flick.

Marclay warns us over the press preview that almost everyone who goes to the clock spends more time there than they usually expected. It’s easy to understand why, the cadence and the time spectrum in which The Clock works can be overwhelming on the viewer. Therefore, we want more.

The rush, a wait, a tic-tac. As we watch The Clock we start to understand how time is the hidden motif behind every action we take. And that conclusion confirms the piece as a masterpiece and justifies all of the hype it generates.

For the artist, it is important to experience the piece in different moments, as this 24 hours looping organism is totally heterogeneous in its content. There is not a right time to watch The Clock, Christian warns us. That’s why Museu Coleção Berardo is going to show the film in 24 hour sessions – starting today at 10pm – and in 33 hour sessions – this weekend, 28th of March and 18th of April.

And time goes on.