Time Machination

 

from "The Clock"

It's very simple, really, no magic. You travel from New York to Rome at Christmas and supposedly “lose” six hours in the process. You're literally racing to sunrise. Arriving 7:00 AM at Fiumicino, it is still only 1AM in New York. When you would have gone to sleep, you are asked to get up and start your day. Ostensibly you will gain the lost time on the way back, arriving at say 7PM and ready to start your evening which is already over in Rome. Were you back in Rome, you would have been getting ready for bed. It's not similar to Proust’s concept of “lost time,” which really refers to the “involuntary memories" often triggered by sensation. Time zones are one of those interesting sometimes labyrinthine notions which end up being exercises in rationality of a very literal sort. There is, for example, Greenwich Mean Time, but so what? Speaking of time, Christian Marclay's 24 hour movie, "The Clock" will be running at MoMA through February 17th.