Grandfather Clock in the Rijksmuseum

The exhibition outside the exhibition room

Opening again after ten years closing down for maintenance, the Rijksmuseum has significantly updated its extensive collections. All pieces were carefully selected and exhibited chronologically or according to specific themes: ground floor is for special collections and pieces dating from the years 1100-1600, while third floor is for design objects dated from the year of 1900 to 2000. However, there is one piece — the Grandfather Clock — that is placed separately in a corner in a hallway on the ground floor, out of the exhibition rooms. This raises the question why the Rijksmuseum chooses that particular arrangement for the clock. Why is it located where visitors expect to see a displayed item the least? This essay aims to present the reasons behind the placement of the Grandfather Clock in the Rijksmuseum by applying the script analysis of the Actor-Network Theory (Callon and Latour, 1992). This method allows extensive mapping of interactions between the visitors and the objects in a specific context, and how the arranged context contributes to the original script by mediating the human and non-human actants.

The Grandfather Clock is part of the Real Time series, designed by Maarten Baas in 2009. There are two versions of the clock: one made of synthetic clay and the other is made of cherry-veneered MDF. This essay analyses the former model that is on display in the Rijksmuseum. The clock consists of a big box with the height of 213.4 cm, width of 73.7 cm and depth of 50.8 cm. An LCD screen is installed as the face of the clock: it shows a 12-hour movie in loop of a blurred figure of a man continuously indicating the time by drawing the hour and minute clock hands with a marker directly on the screen (Fig. 1). The combination of the human-size of the clock together with the image of the moving blurred man creates an optical illusion of a real man standing inside the clock — a figurative personal specialist telling the time. The inscribed script in this design is to trick the viewers into absorbing that false impression. Besides, the clock’s closed body was designed as a block to prevent any attempts at verifying the truth from skeptical viewers, and to leave them watching the man inside the clock with an insatiable curiosity in mind.

The Rijksmuseum plays a part in the Grandfather Clock’s script of misleading the viewers by setting up a particular non-exhibition arrangement. From the ground floor, visitors can encounter the clock from two directions: on the left from the entrance or in the transitional hallway between the two exhibition areas: 0.5 (Italian Renaissance) and 0.6 (Van Oostsanen, Van Scorel, Beuckelaer). In either way, visitors are likely to stumble upon the clock. The surprise of seeing a piece standing alone in the hallway with no highlight and no pedestal catches the visitors off guard. They do not know whether or not what they see is a displayed item. They do not assume its script as a showpiece.

Nevertheless, the show is going on. Soon the visitors notice something on the round clock face: twelve short dashes marking the twelve hours around the edge and the moving image of a man drawing the hands of the clock. The astonishment of seeing a moving human figure amidst a closed object urges visitors to make sense of the sight by forming hypotheses. There may or may not be a real man inside the clock. Their attention shifts from “the clock telling time” to “the man telling time by drawing the clock hands inside the clock” to “the man inside the clock”. If the visitors observe long enough, they will even see the man drink some water, smoke a cigarette or eat a sandwich between the breaks of one minute. These trivial but humane details trick the visitors further into their misconception.

Uncertain visitors may seek information in the Rijksmuseum’s description of the object. However, they only get to know the clock’s name (Grandfather Clock), its designer (Maarten Baas) and the year it was made (2009). There is no detail about the mechanism of the clock or the existence of the man inside. The brief text leaves a void and an intact doubt in the visitors’ minds. It delegates the task of solving the puzzle to them. It should be noticed that there is a soft couch opposite the Grandfather Clock, on the other side of the hallway. The fact that there is a whole hallway and a bench encourages visitors to gather around the clock to contemplate the incoherence without being afraid of blocking somebody’s view to other objects or getting tired while standing.

Each visitor comes to his or her own conclusion of the clock. I will present here three cases I noted while observing the visitors observing the clock. There was first a lady holding an iPad filming the clock as she spot the moving image of the man. Then she called out to his son, “Come here! There is a man inside the clock!” The son of about seven years old ran to her and curiously looked at the clock. He asked, “How can he get in there?” and started examining the side and back of the clock. His mom said, “Look closely and you will see the air holes!” The boy then stepped back and raised his hand waving at the clock eagerly. He wanted to say hi to the man in there (Fig. 2). A group of visitors came by and started gathering around them and discussing with each other about the clock. Some people shrugged their shoulders in disbelief. Some decided to leave the clock as it is. After the group walked away, another lady approaching me as she noticed I was the only person left sitting on the bench watching the clock intensively. She asked, “Does he belong to you?” I just said simply, “No, it’s not real.” The second lady walked away with a confused smile. After a while, I went to the cloakroom to gather my coat and bag to go home. A male staff there got to know I was checking out the Grandfather Clock, he asked, “Do you know that we take shift working in that clock?” I smiled at the attempted joke, “Really? But I only saw a man in there, no woman.” He hesitated, “Oh that’s because we drink less and work harder.”

To the visitors unaware of the truth, the Grandfather Clock plays a good joke script of disrupting their comprehension with illusions and doubts. The Rijksmuseum contributes greatly to setting up the stage for the clock’s show, including the male staff who made a nice effort to entertain me with the clock’s semiotic pun. The clock’s puzzling effect can be dampened if it was placed on the third floor, alongside with other contemporary pieces. Then visitors would regard it as a design installation right from the beginning. But as it is right now, the placement of the clock turns visitors into actants trying to figure out the enigma behind the frosted glass dial of the clock.

Actor-Network Theory’s script analysis provides an overview of the social interactions an object can create. On the other hand, the context and the intention of the setup should be carefully taken into consideration when applying the method. As the thought-provoking script of the Grandfather Clock was delegated not only to the clock itself, but also to the person who actually spent twelve hours marking the time behind a glass, and the placement that facilitates everything to fall into place.