Locating art that matches 7:10

Art Clock is a gallery that tells time with art

Art Clock is a participatory experience where users scour the Smithsonian Open Access catalog for art that can be interpreted as an analog clock face. The result is an ever evolving collection that displays a new piece of art every minute.

Help complete the clock

Find an image with strong angles and then align the clock hands to highlight the time that's hidden within artwork. The task is one part treasure hunt, one part interpretation game and all parts weirdly satisfying. Afterward you will begin to see elements in all art that you didn’t before. Every find brings the clock closer to a matching artwork for each of the 1440 minutes in a day.

Here are the latest finds:

Start yours by picking an image

    Align clock hands to angles in the image

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    About the Art Clock

    This prototype was made in conjunction with the Cooper Hewitt Interaction Lab to explore compelling experiences with the Smithsonian Open Access catalog.

    The clock explores a new method of technology assisted curation and a playful way of adding art to daily life. Our intention is that the time people spend identifying angles will create relationships between participant and art, and help people notice and think about the compositional choices that artists make. The patterns that emerge in the results, and the surprising way people perceive angles in images will be interesting to watch. We will use everything we learn to improve the project and spark new ideas for where the Art Clock could go next.

    We want to thank the team at Cooper Hewitt for their guidance and all the participants for their ongoing hunt to fill in the missing times on the clock.

    -
    The team at
    Red Paper Heart

    The Art Clock is displayed on a large screen in a museum-like environment. Multiple people observe the clock, one person is interacting with a red wheel on the side of the screen that moves the minute hand of the clock to show different artworks.