{"id":3594,"date":"2026-10-02T09:36:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T13:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/paperclips-and-a-bottle-gong-niklas-roys-glashtte-trash-clock-rethinks-timekeeping\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T09:36:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T13:36:40","slug":"paperclips-and-a-bottle-gong-niklas-roys-glashtte-trash-clock-rethinks-timekeeping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/paperclips-and-a-bottle-gong-niklas-roys-glashtte-trash-clock-rethinks-timekeeping\/","title":{"rendered":"Paperclips and a Bottle Gong: Niklas Roy\u0019s Glash\u001a\u0014tte Trash Clock Rethinks Timekeeping"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Berlin-based artist and inventor Niklas Roy has turned his long-running fascination with the overlap of art and technology toward one of humanity\u0019s oldest tools: the clock. His latest project, titled <em>Glash\u001a\u0014tte Trash Clock<\/em>, takes its name from the town in Saxony, Germany, where he joined a residency this year\u0014a place widely known as the birthplace of the nation\u0019s watchmaking industry. \u001cGlash\u001a\u0014tte is synonymous with precision and centuries-old watchmaking craft, and I wanted to make the opposite,\u001d Roy says.<\/p>\n<p>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 artist\u0019s 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.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align:left\">Built from what\u0019s at hand<\/h2>\n<p>Roy constructed the clock using only found and readily available items, favoring immediacy over polish. Among the materials he names are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>tape, zip ties, and hot glue<\/li>\n<li>cardboard and a yardstick<\/li>\n<li>pieces of plastic and other random objects<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The result embraces improvisation without abandoning function. As Roy notes, \u001cit runs for about half an hour,\u001d a candid admission that underscores the project\u0019s playful spirit as much as its engineering.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align:left\">How it ticks (and chimes)<\/h2>\n<p>Three features anchor the clock\u0019s personality and operation:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Paperclip-escapement:<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Glass bottle gong:<\/strong> The gong is the acoustic element you hear in many clocks, usually struck hourly or on the half-hour. Roy\u0019s version repurposes a bottle for the job.<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u0018Random complication\u0019:<\/strong> Rather than a horological feature, this nods to games and chance, cheekily \u001canswering\u001d the question, \u001cNow or Never?\u001d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While we often imagine time as steady and methodical, this added existential flourish introduces a spry sense of unpredictability, tempering the mechanism\u0019s regular swing with a wink.<\/p>\n<p><em>Glash\u001a\u0014tte Trash Clock<\/em> channels Roy\u0019s 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 look\u0014and listen\u0014more closely. More of Roy\u0019s work can be found on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\"><em>V\u00eda <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/09\/niklas-roy-glashutte-trash-clock-mechanical-sculpture\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">thisiscolossal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Berlin-based artist and inventor Niklas Roy\u0019s Glash\u001a\u0014tte Trash Clock, built from scrounged materials like tape, cardboard, a yardstick, and plastic, runs for about half an hour and features a paperclip-escapement, a glass bottle gong, and a \u001crandom complication\u001d that plays with chance.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-happening-now"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}