At the 2011 Venice Biennale, artist Christian Marclay demonstrated just how exhilarating it can be to watch the clock. For The Clock, he constructed a 24-hour montage from cinematic fragments — from classics to forgotten productions — each centered around a different ticking clock. His idea was as simple as it was compelling, earning him not only the Biennale’s Golden Lion but worldwide fascination. Now Berlin can fall under the spell of his timepiece. Alongside Marclay’s exhibition, the Neue Nationalgalerie is screening The Clock in its entirety outside regular opening hours. From 05.12.-06.12.2025 and 02.01-03.01.2026 (from 20–10h), wander through the night with film stars and lose yourself in the tempo and rhythm of time.
The explosion of Big Ben from V for Vendetta, the nocturnal clock-tower scene from Orson Welles’s The Stranger, or Christopher Walken’s legendary watch monologue in Pulp Fiction all become the hands of this cinematic timepiece. Marclay’s montage doesn’t just mark the minutes; it reveals how deeply our visual memory is shaped by these iconic film moments. For years, he combed through the archives of film history, placing high culture and pop, thriller and drama, blockbuster and arthouse side by side on equal footing. The work stands for the pull of cinema itself: the way tension builds, how expectations shift, how temporality is always a central carrier of cinematic meaning. The Clock is not a simple film screening; it’s an invitation to drift into the night, into the early morning, until real and cinematic time begin to merge. Between darkness, film snippets, and half-awake thoughts, a moment emerges that feels almost meditative. You sense time stretching — minute by minute, scene by scene.
Text: Laura Storfner / Credits: Christian Marclay, The Clock, Photo: White Cube (Ben Westoby), Courtesy White Cube, London
Neue Nationalgalerie, Potsdamer Str.50, 10785 Berlin–Tiergarten; map
Christian Marclay. The Clock 29.11.25–25.01.2026
Two 24-hour screenings outside regular opening hours (free) on 05.–06.12.2025 & 02.–03.01.2026, 20–10h
@neuenationalgalerie
