I have seen this art installation many times (it’s been there since 1999) but never really took pictures or looked into it before… and I was just around the Union Square the other day and decided to take photos and blog about it as this is one of the many New York art installations that everyone recognizes. (but I guess it’s not being loved so much.)

It’s entitled Metronome — The artwork was created by Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel and consists of several sections, including a round circular void from which puffs of white steam are released throughout the day, and a clock made of large orange LED digits.

And I always wonder about the LED digits… apparently, it’s a clock!

On the left side of the work is a set of fifteen large LED digits, called “The Passage”, which display the time in 24-hour format. The seven leftmost digits show the time in conventional 24-hour format, as hours (2 digits), minutes (2 digits), seconds (2 digits), tenths of a second (1 digit). The seven rightmost digits display the amount of time remaining in a 24-hour day, as tenths of a second (1 digit), seconds (2 digits), minutes (2 digits), hours (2 digits). The center digit represents hundredths of a second, and appears as a blur.

For instance, if the clock reads “195641188180304” (as in the picture at right), it means that time is 19:56 (7:56 PM) and 41.1 seconds, and that there are 04 hours, 03 minutes, and 18.8 seconds remaining in the day. (From Wikipedia)

I could never read the clock even though I read all that, but it’s good to know that it’s a clock. haha

The wiki page has the artists’ statement etc. it’s so interesting to know more about the piece.