The envelope you see here is also a clock. Sculptor / inventor / designer Tim Hawkinson has motorized the tiny clasp so that it keeps time. At a show for the Whitney in 2005, Hawkinson distributed a whole series of these clocks throughout the exhibition space, along with more elaborate installations.
In Hawkinson’s world, everything keeps time, including this bag of packing peanuts, whose twist tie is also a tiny clock face:
I am a ticker. I live in Tim Hawkinson’s world. Although I never wear a watch, I always know what time it is. When I enter a room, I scope out the watch on my neighbor’s wrist, the corner of my friend’s lap top, or the chimes ringing in the courtyard. When all else fails, I rely on my own private water clock (the amount of time it takes for tea to work its way through my bladder). It’s hard for me to be late; even when I try to arrive last, I am usually the first one at the dinner party.
Ellen has been guest blogging at Fast Company, and has a great post on time keeping in the age of cell phones. Among the several maxims that she shares is this one: “Better never than late.” I guess we’ve got that one inscribed on our twin DNA!
— Julia Lupton · 2009-07-26
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THE BOOK