Taking inspiration from the seminal Lars Von Trier film Melancholia, Kibardin’s Melancholia Wall Clock is a clock to end all time. Based on von Trier’s research in Saturn as the galaxy’s most melancholic planet, the clock focuses on the idea of a cosmic collision. Designed to imitate a clash of romanticism and style with reality and its empty rituals.
The clock invokes a sense of longing, both in its stark lack of numerals and text and its movement of two independent spheres, almost a constant state of melancholia. While checking the time is performing just another ritual, the Kibardin Wall Clock aims to give it content. Upon first glance, the clock seems static with the ritual providing meaning.
Moving in two separate parts the Melancholia Wall Clock consists of a minute “hand” called Justine who must interact with her melancholic sister Claire, the hour “hand.” Just like Von Trier’s Saturn eventually engulfs the Earth, so too does the minute hand eclipse the hour hand twice a day, when the two hands meet together at the top. Though melancholia makes her slow descent, as she always does, coming down like a curtain in motion, fluctuating on her own tempo, form two to one and back again. The overall impact is of being alone and separate, even in the fleeting company of a companion.
The Melancholia Wall Clock isn’t just functional, it’s an expression of art. A high torque quartz clock movement keeps the whole operation going, so you can tell the time whether you like it or not.