Designer John Taylor has created a menacing, surrealistic clock for Corpus Christi College at Engand's University of Cambridge. Unveiled on September 18, 2008, the four-foot diameter device features LED's to indicate the second, minute and hour, and a monstrous, animatronic grasshopper that "devours" time as it passes. Designed to evoke death, the clock signals the hour with the sound of a chain striking a coffin.Fox News: British Clock Meant to Remind Viewers of Death (September 19, 2008)
Quotes
- "Conventional clocks with hands are boring. I wanted to make timekeeping interesting."--John TaylorGizmodo: "The Strangest Clock in the World" Unveiled (September 19, 2008)
- "To me, time passes slowly or more quickly depending on the circumstances... As Einstein said, 'A hour sitting with a pretty girl passes like a minute, but a minute sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour.' "--John TaylorYouTube: Corpus Clock & Chronophage (Time: 4:59)
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References
Fast Facts
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Clock face is gold plated
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Has no numbers or hands
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Mouth of "grasshopper" snaps shut once per minute
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Clock speeds up and slows down
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Designed by John Taylor
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Unveiling featured Physicist Stephen Hawking
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Fabricated by a team of eight engineers and craftsmen
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Took five years to build
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Cost over $1 million--funded by Taylor himself
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Grasshopper is a visual pun on the grasshopper escapement, a 16th century timepiece invention
