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Boston Globe
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Nothing is ever resolved in this suspense-packed movie, and that is the point
This is 'Doors,' the aptly-named new filmic mash-up by Christian Marclay, making its North American premiere at the ICA (it debuted in London in 2023). One door closes, another opens — over and over in the 55-minute amalgam of in-between moments, across a gamut of film history that lodges you, the viewer, firmly and forever in liminal space. The film manufacturers a perpetual compulsion to anticipate something that never comes. It's unnatural, uncomfortable, and exactly the point: 'Doors' leaves the mind unconsciously searching, scrambling to assemble narrative from fragments unlinked by anything other than its key device: a door and a jump-cut, the central artifice of film for its entire existence. In a heartbeat, viewers can leap moments, or years, mere steps, or miles. Marclay's defiance of expectation, hardwired by generations of film-viewing, is where its power lies: a flatline of edge-of-your seat anticipatory drama, without beginning or end. Advertisement A still from Christian Marclay's "Doors," 2022. Christian Marclay/White Cube Advertisement Marclay, equal parts movie nerd and high-concept formalist (his early creative forays were as a DJ in New York in the 1980s, specializing in radical remixes of music history), has been down this road before. He's best-known for 'The Clock,' his 2010 magnum opus that plundered decades of film history for clips of every minute of a 24-hour day and knit them together in precise 60-second snippets so that the piece actually told the time . It was a bona fide sensation, the rare combination of deep conceptual rigor and broad popular appeal. In 2010, people 'Doors' operates on the same premise. It extracts hundreds of moments from generations of cinema, linked together by the intuitive logic of entry and exit. It's tempting to consider it 'The Clock' lite, but that isn't giving the conceptual challenge Marclay sets for himself the credit it deserves. 'Doors' is virtuosic in its own right, razor-sharp in its rhythm and timing; with such pronounced seams — black and white to color; 1930s to 1990s — it nonetheless appears seamless. Fluidity of motion is matched by sound, the sonic environment of each clip melting into the other, smoothing the flow. 'Doors' could easily be jarring; its core device is abruptness and transition. Instead, it reaches altitude quickly and stays there; the only turbulence is by design. Advertisement An installation view of Christian Marclay's "Doors," at the ICA. Mel Taing Where 'The Clock' was relentlessly linear — minute by minute, not a millisecond out of place — 'Doors' has no such guiding logic. Its rhythm is irregular, but propulsive. In crafting his tease of narrative, Marclay sometimes deploys the same clip twice or more as it suits his narrative tease (I watched Sidney Poitier burst out of his classroom and into a clutch of eavesdropping students in 'To Sir, With Love' at least three times, re-linked to other comings and goings). And narrative — non-existent, impossible — is the central deception of the whole affair: Marclay strings together clips with comparable emotional tenor — furtive, jubilant, terrified — that tempts a mind hungry for story to craft one where none could possibly be. Different viewers will take different things from 'Doors.' Encyclopedic film buffs can take it almost as a trivia challenge: Identify actors and movies by name, score points for all your right answers. Don't get me wrong: Whatever else it is, 'Doors' is great fun. I'm no film buff (though I know John Travolta in 'Urban Cowboy' when I see it, and I did), which makes 'Doors' about something more for me: a sustained emotional state. Advertisement A still from "Doors." Christian Marclay/White Cube 'The Clock' was heady — we go to the movies to be transported from real time, a respite; here was a movie, fantastical and star-studded, that pinned you down, and made real time inescapable. 'Doors' is more visceral, a transporting, immersive experiment in forced hyperacuity. The whole is more — far more — than the sum of its parts. Sidney Poitier bursting into that hallway is dynamic, nostalgic, and stirring. But it's just one element of a more potent brew. Marclay is a master of dramatic tension; he expertly tightens the screws and slackens them off. But there is never respite, or pause. All is motion, transition, an edge-of-your-seat, what-happens-next on permanent lock. It's not normal, or natural. It's also exhilarating. The dramatic core of 'Doors' isn't doors, or film, at all. It's you. CHRISTIAN MARCLAY'S DOORS Through Sept. 1. Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, 25 Harbor Shore Drive. 617-478-3100, Murray Whyte can be reached at
Daily Mail
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Giant lines spotted outside Sydney pubs at 9am as Anzac Day commemorations kick off
Sydneysiders looking to commemorate Anzac Day by heading to one of the city's pubs for a traditional drink have been met with massive lines stretching back blocks. Queues had formed from as early as 9am at venues like the Clovelley Hotel in the eastern suburbs and The Vic on the Park in Marrickville in the Inner West - where by midday police were not letting any more people line up. Also in the early afternoon The Clock in Surrey Hills had a two hour line, Bellevue Hotel in Paddington had a three hour line, and both the Sackville in Balmain and Royal Paddington had huge queues, social media page Bondi Lines said. Other pubs that still had long lines well after 12pm were the Cat and Fiddle in Balmain, The Glenmore at the Rocks, Harbord Hotel in Freshwater, and The Dolphin Hotel in Surrey Hills. Some people said the lines were 'cooked' and they would be staying away, while others questioned whether the tone of the day as a memorial to those who died at war protecting the country was being forgotten. 'What does Anzac Day mean anymore?' one person asked. 'It's just been turned into another Australian drinking holiday,' another added. Hundreds of thousands of Australians attended what has become the other great Anzac Day tradition of the dawn service. Among them was Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who marked the day at the Australian War Memorial, while Opposition Leader Peter Dutton went to a commemoration in his electorate of Dickson in Brisbane. The prime minister read a dedication at the Canberra service, saying the 25,000 who gathered before dawn ought to think of those who went to battle but did not come home. 'We wish to be worthy of their great sacrifice,' Mr Albanese said. 'Let us therefore once more dedicate ourselves to the ideals for which they died. 'As the dawn is even now about to pierce the night, so let their memory inspire us to work for the coming new light into the dark places of the world.' The prime minister attended the service with his fiancee, Jodie Haydon. The service was briefly interrupted by an attendee who yelled 'free Palestine' before the national anthem was played, with one heckler telling the protester to 'kick a landmine'. For most of the service, it was only the sounds of bird calls emanating around the memorial that could be heard among the bugle calls and bagpipe laments. It was important to take time out of the flurry of an election campaigning to honour Australia's defence forces, 110 years after the Gallipoli landings, Mr Albanese said. 'We contemplate the debt we owe them - those who finally came home, their hearts reshaped by all they had seen, and those who tragically never did,' Mr Albanese said. Mr Dutton marked the day with a dawn service at Kallangur, in northern Brisbane, alongside his wife Kirilly. Hundreds of people attended the service, where the opposition leader and his wife laid a wreath to commemorate the sacrifice made by Australian troops.
The Guardian
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘It is trance-like': pianist Igor Levit performs Erik Satie's Vexations 840 times
Given that he was about to start playing the same piano piece 840 times, for no less than 16 unbroken hours, you could have forgiven Igor Levit for appearing panicked as he walked on stage at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall on Thursday morning. But the German pianist, who this morning began a marathon concert in which he would play Erik Satie's Vexations to hundreds of people for hours on end, simply arranged his sheet music, gave a little laugh – maybe at the absurdity of what he had signed up for – and began to play. About 150 people had paid to stay for the duration of the marathon performance, which is a collaboration between Levit and the Serbian conceptual artist Marina Abramović. It is thought to be the first time the piece will be played in its entirety by the same person live in the UK. Others opted to pop in for hour-long sessions throughout the day and into the evening, with the last slot beginning at 11pm and lasting until the bitter end. Jacob Povey, a 29-year-old nurse, was in it for the long haul. 'It's such a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,' he said as he waited for doors to open. 'I've managed five hours before at Christian Marclay's film installation, The Clock, so I know I've got something like that in me. I'll be in and out, but hopefully I'm here at the end … whenever it does actually end.' Written in 1893 for keyboard, Vexations is between one and two minutes long when played once. But a note from Satie on the manuscript – 'In order to play this motif 840 times in a row, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, in the deepest silence, through serious immobilities' – has inspired several artists throughout the years to attempt just that. A marathon performance of the piece in 1963, organised by John Cage and played in shifts by various pianists, including Christian Wolff, lasted 19 hours and was called 'musical history' by the New York Times. Levit, whose first performance of the piece was streamed from his Berlin apartment during the Covid-19 lockdown, has done it before in 15 and a half hours. For many visiting, it was less about the music and more about the performance, which featured pieces of the modular stage being taken apart and turned into sculptural chairs. 'One of the things that struck me was how unmemorable that piece of music was,' said Dave Hallberry, 69, who had come along to the performance with his wife, Noreen, and 18-year-old daughter, Sorcha. 'Even now, I don't think I could sing it to you and I've just been listening to it for an hour. There's something about the combination of notes that makes you want to keep listening to it.' Abramović worked with the lighting designer Urs Schönebaum to create a mirror-like effect above the piano. 'I kept switching my view between the mirror and the stage,' said Clare Maleeny, a 24-year-old film editor. 'It was trance-like.' Ruth Davis, a 69-year-old Alexander teacher, was more familiar with the piece than most. 'They said it was the first time that it's been played live in the UK,' she said. 'Which is not true: I played this piece in front of an audience in 1983 for my second-year performance at Leicester Polytechnic and it lasted 11 hours and 43 minutes. I starved myself for two days before. It's really quite a difficult piece to play!' Luckily, Levit had two onstage helpers nearby to provide him with sustenance and mop his brow. And as for the key question on everyone's mind – how he went to the toilet – a screen was on standby to go up around the piano. Many, though, worried about his comfort and wondered whether he'd go the distance. 'The chair wasn't great,' said Hallberry. 'I thought he'd have some sort of comfy office chair or something.' Speaking to the Guardian earlier this year, Abramović said the chair can turn into a bed, 'so that he can lie next to the piano for 10 or 15 minutes if he needs to'. For the audience, as much as for Levit, it will be a test of endurance. 'I will have to leave for toilet break and eating and so on,' said Nick Manrique, a 26-year-old PhD student. 'But I'm stubborn – I'm quite determined to see it through.' Tickets for Igor Levit's performance of Vexations are still available, and can be bought at the Southbank Centre box office.
Forbes
28-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
MoMA Is Exhibiting A 24-Hour-Long Movie That Operates Like Clockwork
It's high noon at the Museum of Modern Art. On a screen in a darkened theater, the hands of a clock converge on the number twelve. Cinephiles will recognize this moment as the climax of a 1952 Western starring Gary Cooper. Viewers who linger may subsequently identify scenes from movies such as Mommie Dearest and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Each clip focuses on a timepiece indicating the current hour and minute in Manhattan. The montage, which spans twenty-four hours and runs on a loop, operates as a clock. Christian Marclay. Still from The Clock. 2010. Video (black and white and color, sound). 24 hrs. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Promised gift from the Collection of Jill and Peter Kraus. © 2024 Christian Marclay. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery and White Cube. The Clock is as complex in execution as it's simple in concept. The multimedia artist Christian Marclay enlisted half a dozen assistants to find the footage, which is sourced from approximately twelve thousand films and TV episodes spanning the 20th and early 21st centuries. Over a two year period, Marclay spliced disparate clips from virtually every known genre to craft a new narrative with time as the protagonist. Initially screened in London in 2010, the work has since become a classic of durational art in the tradition of Andy Warhol's Empire and John Cage's ORGAN2/ASLSP. As is the case with those earlier works, The Clock has the paradoxical property of being both renowned and unknown. It's a familiar stranger, to borrow the title of a classic book about time (which glosses a concept originally articulated by St. Augustine). The simplicity of the concept makes it easy to reference in passing, much as Empire can be described as a fixed view of the Empire State Building screened over eight continuous hours. But has anyone actually seen the whole thing? Marclay viewed every scene many times while editing it. But has anyone watched it continuously? The Museum of Modern Art has gamely offered the opportunity by presenting several all-night screenings. An intrepid MoMA staffer actually sat through one of them. He fell asleep. Christian Marclay. The Clock. 2010. Video (black and white and color, sound). 24 hrs. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Promised gift from the Collection of Jill and Peter Kraus. © 2024 Christian Marclay. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery and White Cube. Installation view, White Cube Mason's Yard, London, October 15 – November 13, 2010. Photo: Todd-White Photography. That the work eludes full viewing is not a failing. Instead it should be seen as an indication that the work is more than mere concept. Or, to be more precise, Marclay's execution reveals that the concept contains unforeseeable complexity underlying its simplicity. The Clock need not be viewed in entirety for the complexity to be revealed. Seeing all of it might even be beside the point. Meaning emerges from minute to minute. The most striking quality of The Clock, at least initially, is that time is experienced vicariously. Sitting in the dark, viewers become voyeurs, watching every tick and tock. This perspective comes quite naturally, since film is a vehicle for voyeurism. What is unusual is the attentiveness to what would ordinarily be background information. With time as the protagonist, the viewer seeks to understand its character as keenly as people watching High Noon seek to understand the character played by Gary Cooper. Observed in this way, time loses the abstraction of a purely physical phenomenon, everywhere the same. We recognize time to be contextual and interpersonal. It's the stuff of relationships. Although The Clock is not polemical, it calls attention to the consequences of mechanization, advancing themes evoked in some of Marclay's source material (most obviously Modern Times). Marclay's work reveals an alternative to standardization: In contrast to the precision timepieces that populate it, The Clock keeps time in aggregate while syncopating time from moment to moment. Christian Marclay. Still from The Clock. 2010. Video (black and white and color, sound). 24 hrs. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Promised gift from the Collection of Jill and Peter Kraus. © 2024 Christian Marclay. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery and White Cube. Christian Marclay. Still from The Clock. 2010. Video (black and white and color, sound). 24 hrs. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Promised gift from the Collection of Jill and Peter Kraus. © 2024 Christian Marclay. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery and White Cube The syncopation of time arises in part from stylistic differences over the lifespan of cinema: Different periods have different pacing. The scenes that comprise The Clock are not set in chronological order, progressing from the oldest films to the newest. On the contrary, movies of different eras are juxtaposed. The cyclical time of clocks and watches is constructed by fragmenting the linear time of cinematic history and reorganizing the fragments according to a logic alien to their origin. Almost miraculously, a circle emerges from countless tangents. Marclay's deconstruction and reconstruction of time does not reduce to a coherent theory of the fourth dimension. On the contrary, The Clock celebrates the perplexity we feel when we strive for definitions. And yet, the work is perfectly lucid. Like time, that familiar stranger, The Clock seems strange only upon reflection. Many of the strategies Marclay used to make The Clock can be seen in his earlier works. The most obvious forerunner is Video Quartet, a 2002 work in which four screens show four videos simultaneously, each constructed from myriad film clips, all synced in a way that interlaces their soundtracks into a musical composition. More than just a feat of virtuoso editing, Video Quartet liberates the films from their intended function. Their appropriation is ontological. They're orchestrated like musical instruments. In an equivalent way, The Clock appropriates cinematic material to make a timepiece. The rupture opens up what it means to be a clock. But there's a reciprocal effect on the movies themselves. By setting the scenes to local time, the movies are defictionalized. The fourth wall is broken. The films enter everyday life. Or viewed from the opposite vantage, time no longer seems real. The clock becomes nothing more nor less than a narrative device.
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Historic inn is our pub of the week
At the heart of Chideock stands the traditional, locally-loved pub, The Clock Inn. After closing its doors in late 2023, married couple, Alex and Matt Mawhood, took on the pub in August of 2024. Having both started in hospitality, Alex had previously told the News; 'It has always been our dream to run a pub of our own.' Landlady Alex said: 'It's been a real learning curve and a lot of hard work, but it's been really amazing.' Built in the sixteenth century, the 400 year old building, has stood strong against two fires. One in 1984, thought to have been started by a spark from a neighbour's bonfire getting on to the thatch, and a second in 2015, with flames, yet again, attacking the thatched roof. The Clock Inn, 1988 (Image: John B. Gurd) And in the 70s, outrage grew amongst locals and the Chideock Women's Institute, when a barn on the grounds of The Clock Inn was demolished by the owner without permission. The plan was to then rebuild part of the barn with materials that did not match the original building. Historically, The Clock Inn is a staple to the village of Chideock. As you come through the doors off of Chideock Hill, you are welcomed by a traditional wooden bar, plenty of tables, chairs and bar stools. Up the stairs to the right, lays a cheerful games room. The jovial sound of the local's chatter fills the room, also. Community is at the forefront for owners, Alex and Matt, saying that they host: 'Lots of locals.' Alex commented: 'We get a lot of regulars which is really cool because it feels like we gained a family. We closed for a few weeks in January for a break and we really missed everyone.' 'We're really happy and we hope the locals are happy with us too.' The bar area inside The Clock Inn (Image: Alfie Lumb) Alex previously told us how she had been coming to the Golden Cap for holidays since she was little. She said: 'We love The Clock, we have been coming here for years.' So, when the opportunity arose to buy it, it was something they could not pass up on. Food is very important to The Clock-Inn too, with owner, Matt Mawhood, in the kitchen. Matt expressed how recently: 'The kitchen has been a lot better, we've hired an apprentice that's given us a massive boost and we're excited about the future.' The Clock Inn, according to Alex is: 'A traditional pub serving up yummy and hearty food.' Alex has previously stated also how important sourcing locally is: 'We as much as possible want to support local businesses and get our produce locally, Dorset is a natural larder, it is all here.' Tuesdays at the pub have been branded as 'Stewsdays' where Alex and Matt are proud to offer their homemade stew, mash and a crusty roll with a pint of Guiness, Pravha, Otter Bitter or a 175ml of house red or white wine for £14. Sunday's, as per tradition, are reserved for roast dinners. The larger dining section of the pub opens with fully laid tables and table service to host, what they brand, the Sunday Roast Society. The dining area inside The Clock Inn (Image: Alfie Lumb) As well as the table service, The Clock Inn also provide live acoustic jazz music. In terms of drinks, Alex proudly stated how the pub is a freehouse: 'which is cool because we can choose our own selections and choose to be creative.' For those seeking a thrill with their drink, The Clock Inn is home to a spacious and exciting games room. The back room holds four dart boards which can be used by punters and the pub's very own darts team. There is also a skittles alley which hosts three skittles teams and pool table which they have said is perfect for families to book on a rainy day. Dart board and skittle alley in The Clock Inn's games room (Image: Alfie Lumb) Having been open under their ownership for 5 months, Alex stated how: 'Last year, when we opened, it was about getting a lay of the land but this year it's about planning events, promos, we have a monthly quiz, monthly bands.' Last October, they brought the German beer festival, Oktoberfest to Chideok with a pub twist- Clocktoberfest. The pair dressed up in the festival's traditional attire and served beer in the large, classic glasses of Oktoberfest. Alex said: 'Clocktoberfest was a massive success last year and we will be bringing it back.' As for current plans, The Clock Inn is broadcasting every single game of the Rugby Six Nations tournament live, along with Six Nations inspired cocktails. Alex and Matt expressed their gratitude to the local people and customers as they continue in their new venture.
