Night & Day, Day & Night
Shown at: National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi (2014) | NMACC, Mumbai (2024)

24-hour clock, words, 5 feet diameter


A 24 hour clock where the usual digits are displaced with words in the Devanagri script relating to varying scales of time. Words such as pran (life), tithi (date), ritu (season), express various notions of time. According to the artists, time is experienced at one instance at its briefest – shran (second), while at another it can open us to an eternity (kala) in it , or bring us back to a definite period as yug (century). In the quest to have ourselves be read by time, this counting device invites us to stand and be immersed within its counting; to sit, to wait, to stray, and to play with its meanings. The clock, like all things symbolic, remains open to interpretative moves.