Berlin-based artist and inventor Niklas Roy has turned his long-running fascination with the overlap of art and technology toward one of humanitys oldest tools: the clock. His latest project, titled Glashtte Trash Clock, takes its name from the town in Saxony, Germany, where he joined a residency this yeara place widely known as the birthplace of the nations watchmaking industry. Glashtte is synonymous with precision and centuries-old watchmaking craft, and I wanted to make the opposite, Roy says.
True to that conceit, he limited himself to what he could scrounge locally, assembling a working pendulum clock from everyday odds and ends. The piece taps the artists trademark blend of humor and hands-on mechanics to invite curious viewers into the process, extending his practice across robotics, gaming systems, and interactive installations to a decidedly lo-fi timekeeper.
Built from whats at hand
Roy constructed the clock using only found and readily available items, favoring immediacy over polish. Among the materials he names are:
- tape, zip ties, and hot glue
- cardboard and a yardstick
- pieces of plastic and other random objects
The result embraces improvisation without abandoning function. As Roy notes, it runs for about half an hour, a candid admission that underscores the projects playful spirit as much as its engineering.
How it ticks (and chimes)
Three features anchor the clocks personality and operation:
- Paperclip-escapement: An escapement is a tiny mechanism common in pendulum clocks that releases a gear as it moves, helping to advance the hands. Here, a humble paperclip stands in for precision parts.
- Glass bottle gong: The gong is the acoustic element you hear in many clocks, usually struck hourly or on the half-hour. Roys version repurposes a bottle for the job.
- Random complication: Rather than a horological feature, this nods to games and chance, cheekily answering the question, Now or Never?
While we often imagine time as steady and methodical, this added existential flourish introduces a spry sense of unpredictability, tempering the mechanisms regular swing with a wink.
Glashtte Trash Clock channels Roys interest in the meeting point of creativity, science, and tech into a deliberately unrefined object that nonetheless does what clocks do: mark the passing of minutes. The piece is an invitation to lookand listenmore closely. More of Roys work can be found on Instagram.
