Join us at The Polygon Gallery for an exclusive before-hours screening of Christian Marclay’s The Clock… with coffee!

Start your day with a trip through 70 years of cinema with the artwork that’s been called, “…maybe the greatest film you have ever seen.” Before entering the theatre, we’ll learn more about Marclay’s 24-hour masterpiece from a member of The Polygon’s Curatorial team. Afterwards, if you’re eager for more, The Polygon will be open around the clock (until Saturday, September 7th at 5pm), so you can grab a seat on the couch for an all-nighter and see the work in its entirety.

8:30 - 9:00am – arrival, coffee, and conversation

9:00am – an introductory tour of The Polygon and The Clock

9:20 - 10am – an exclusive before hours screening of ‘The Clock’ (you’re free to stay afterwards for as long as you wish – this is the 2nd last of their 24-hour screenings).

About Christian Marclay’s The Clock

Recognised as one of the most important contemporary artworks of our time, The Clock is an audiovisual tour-de-force. Presented in a custom-built cinema within the gallery, the work montages film and television footage from the last 70 years. The time represented in each clip is synchronised with actual time, allowing The Clock to function as a 24-hour timepiece. Christian Marclay won the coveted Gold Lion Award at the Venice Biennale in 2011 for this now-famous artwork, recently presented at the Tate Modern, London.

Intricately edited in both its visuals and sound, The Clock is created from thousands of film fragments collaged into a minute-to-minute tapestry of modern life, with appearances by many familiar Hollywood and international screen actors. Pre-dawn scenes include dream sequences; morning scenes depict characters waking up, drinking coffee, or heading out to work; evening shots show parties, dinners, and theatre shows. The pace of The Clock reflects daily rhythms, building toward noon, varying in the afternoon, and utilising both images and soundtracks to herald the work’s dramatic midnight climax. The mesmerising experience of following various narratives, settings and moods within the space of a few minutes, makes time unravel in countless directions at once.

Learn more: thepolygon.ca/exhibition/the-clock

About The Polygon Gallery

Situated on the unceded territories of the Skwxwú7mesh, Tsleil-Waututh, and xwməθkwəýəm Nations.

The Polygon Gallery continues the forty-year reputation of Presentation House Gallery in engaging the public with the most visionary artists of our time. A new waterfront landmark on Vancouver’s North Shore, The Polygon offers a one-of-a-kind space to encounter contemporary visual art with a focus on photography.

Admission always by donation, courtesy of BMO.

Visit their website: thepolygon.ca