ClockClock 24 (35")
Eight core editions; $7,900–12,700
Humans since 1982
Humans since 1982 makes kinetic sculptures that keep time. Its ClockClock and A million Times series grew from a question the studio still asks, “how time designs and how to design time,” and the answer so far is a wall of analog clock hands that spend most of each minute in choreographed motion and then, on the minute, line up to spell the time. Designed and produced in Stockholm, Sweden.
ClockClock
ClockClock 24 was released in 2016, eight years after the original Clock Clock first turned clock hands into performers. As the studio puts it, “We liberated the clock from its sole function of measuring and reporting the time by taking the clock-hands out of their ‘administrative’ roles and turning them into dancers.” Every minute, hands driven by individual stepper motors align to show the time as four digits. The body is Corian, a mineral composite close to stone. $7,900–12,700
Upcoming Releases
New ClockClock editions
Parts / Accessories
Adapters, wall brackets, and replacement parts
A million Times
A million Times carries the ClockClock idea to architectural scale: 48 to 288 clocks in a single work, in editions of 82 or fewer. The series grew out of The Clock Clock (2008), one of the studio’s first collaborative works, and now includes public commissions such as A million Times at Changi, Singapore, where 504 clocks move as one. $71,000–375,000
About Humans since 1982
Humans since 1982 was founded in 2009 by Bastian Bischoff (b. 1982, Germany) and Per Emanuelsson (b. 1982, Sweden), who met as postgraduate students at HDK Göteborg in 2008. The Stockholm studio is co-owned with engineer David Cox (b. 1983, Australia), and its team of programmers, designers, and technicians takes each work from concept to finished object.
Since The Clock Clock’s debut in 2008, the studio has exhibited in more than 20 countries, including Somerset House (UK), the National Museum of China, the Saatchi Gallery (UK), Art Wuzhen (CN), Art Miami (US), the Verbeke Foundation (BE), Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (US), the Luxembourg Biennale, Phillips de Pury & Company (US), the San Francisco Museum of Art & Design (US), and Design Miami/Basel (CH).
Selected Commissions & Collections
- Moncler, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan, Italy: A million Times 200V + 61c
- Collection of the City of San José Public Art Program, USA: A million Times (San José)
- Changi Airport, Singapore: A million Times at Changi
- The Art Collection at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, USA: A million Times 120
- Audi at Design Miami, Miami, USA: Spotlights
- Platform-L Contemporary Art Center, Seoul, South Korea: A million Times 108
- Nike, Boston, USA: A million Times 96
- Fendi, London, UK: A million Times 72 Red
- Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland: Clock Clock
- The Royal London Hospital, London, UK: Clock Clock
- Vitra Design Museum, Germany: Collection of Light, ClockClock 24
- Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden: ClockClock 24
Dealer’s Notes
We’ve worked with Humans since 1982 since 2018. We’re an authorized US retailer for the studio’s work and the premier US retail partner for ClockClock 24. What we like most is that the studio still behaves like an art studio rather than a design brand. Not every experiment becomes an edition; some works exist only to test an idea, and others are made for site-specific commissions. The founders remain closely involved, open to feedback, and serious about the long life of the work. Like us, they’d rather a piece stay in your home or office for decades than be replaced.
ClockClock 24 and A million Times stage the same small drama at very different scales. A ClockClock 24 goes almost anywhere, and some clients end up with more than one. A million Times anchors a room, so the wall and the scale need to be right. The two series sit far apart in scale and price. The gap is a matter of engineering and economics rather than interest, and we are hopeful that one day it becomes possible for the studio to make a work that lives between them.
Every ClockClock 24 comes to Charlotte from Sweden and is inspected here before it ships to you. A million Times editions ship directly from Stockholm to you or your art handler. Our role is helping choose the edition and placement, then coordinating delivery and installation. The question we hear most is the one we asked ourselves at the start: what happens if something eventually needs service? Repairs are uncommon, and most can be handled in place by a local repair partner we arrange, with parts the studio keeps available for existing works. Buying from us adds an independent second opinion before you commit and a US-based point of contact afterward.