A million Times Series, 2013–Ongoing
A million Times is an ongoing series by Humans since 1982 that continues the conceptual exploration of one of their first collaborative projects The ClockClock (2008), to create a kinetic sculpture that subverts clocks to represent them as art objects, unleashed from a solely pragmatic existence.
In these artworks, the hands of multiple analogue clocks are programmed to spin individually and in formation to perform abstract choreographies and movement patterns. Once every minute, the clock hands align to accurately display the time in a digital typography, playfully reporting and representing the concept of time passing.
Reflecting on the early experiments that lead to the development of A million Times, studio founders Bastian Bischoff & Per Emanuelsson say:
We experimented with animated typography and developed a font that was based on a grid of clocks, whereby we made the clock-hands stop in certain positions in order to create letters and digits. Once the clock hands rotated again the characters would fall apart. Using clocks to show this circle of formation and decline was intriguing and after some experimentation it proved to be beautiful too. Even though the movement of each clock hand is very restricted and simple – as it can just rotate around the ever-same centre – when programmed to move simultaneously with the other clock-hands, referring to each other in time and space, it created something with emergent properties: the whole was more than just the sum of its parts.
The first A million Times artwork was exhibited in 2013 and since then the project has developed in ambition, complexity and scale to include public commissions such as A million Times at Changi, a 504 clock face artwork that is one of the largest kinetic sculptures in the world.
The series continues to progress and evolve through site-specific commissions and experiments with materials. In 2017, Humans since 1982 collaborated with a copper artisan to introduce A million Times in Copper through an intricate process called electroforming, which is very rarely achieved at this scale. The Tidal Series – three pieces characterised by their deep blue aluminium artwork body and metal finished clock hands were introduced in 2019.
Artworks from the A million Times series have been exhibited worldwide and are included in internationally significant art collections including: Platform L, Seoul; Changi Airport, Singapore; Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta and Collection of the City of San Jose Public Art Program.
For more information about purchasing or commissioning an A million Times artwork please see our Online Catalogue for available pieces or contact the studio: mail@humanssince1982.com / +46 76 846 55 99
Read more about the process and thoughts behind this project in our Artist Statement.