Gysin & Vanetti
24 times, 08.12.2020
The work 24 times, created for the HEK Net Works series, is part of the Clock series and consists of 24 variations around the clock theme. Each of these 24 clocks displays the time of day in real-time, but with different and unusual formats. The results are rhythmic compositions of numbers, letters, and signs, such as the sum of all the numbers that make up the hours, minutes, and seconds of a given moment, or the appearance of a cuckoo every half hour.
24 times (from the Clock series) was visible from 08.12.2020 to 12.01.2021 here: https://24times.gysin-vanetti.com
Tip: open the site on your mobile phone, choose one of the 24 clocks, and add it to your Home screen to get your personalised watch!
Set in a tradition that ranges from concrete art to kinetic and programmatic art, the artists Andreas Gysin and Sidi Vanetti develop projects that often make use of recuperated mechanical systems. The work Zürich HB Flap (2016) is a spectacular example of this. Gysin & Vanetti obtained the monumental mechanical signage panel of Zurich's main station comprising 452 split-flaps elements – and replaced in 2015 by a digital panel – to reprogram it in order to create a kinetic installation. Their transformations, which the artists call 'found geometries', often take on a playful and sometimes absurd character. For example, they created a video mapping projection for the façade of a baroque church in Locarno (S.Antonio, 2007), choreographed a series of moving headlights (Fari, 2014-16), or programmed a sand drawing machine to produce geometric compositions (Sabbia, 2017).