Cast in aluminium and inlaid with LEDs, Françoise Schein’s Time Zone Clock depicts international time zones, which are embedded into the flooring of Coventry city centre's Millennium Place. Stainless steel discs locate the capital cities of the world as well as Coventry's 26 sister cities, many of which shared Coventry's experience of being bombed during World War II.
At the end of each illuminated line, orange indicators show the hour of each particular time zone, while at the end of the artwork's meridian lines, Greenwich Meantime is shown in hours, minutes and seconds. LED lines light up from left to right from midnight, and every quarter of an hour the whole clock becomes illuminated. A control panel on the edge of the Millennium Place indicates the name and location of Coventry’s sister cities.
Of the ideas behind Time Zone Clock, Schein says: ‘It seemed appropriate to me, given the Millennium and the fact that the time zone system was invented in Britain, to present an idea related to the concept of time. In addition, Coventry has an important history of industrial clock and watch-making, and a collection of sister cities from around the globe.’
This work is part of the Phoenix Initiative Public Art Programme, curated and managed by Modus Operandi.
