Silent Agitator

Emma Ewan — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 19:39:00 +0000

Illuminated clock, 2019

Silent Agitator is a large clock based upon a detail of an illustration produced by Ralph Chaplin in 1917 for the Industrial Workers of the World union (the IWW). Chaplin’s illustration, bearing the inscription ‘What time is it? Time to organize!’, was reproduced on millions of gummed stickers, known as ‘silent agitators’, that were distributed by union members in workplaces and public spaces across the US. The clock hands bear workers’ clogs or, in French, sabots from which the word sabotage is derived (sabotage was originally used in English to specifically mean disruption instigated by workers). Clocks are a ubiquitous symbol within industrial disputes as hourly wages and the extent of working hours are often the source of argument. Silent Agitator nods to the IWW’s organising for the rights to a five-day work week and eight-hour work day, and posits a future in which we further reclaim our time.

Silent Agitator was originally commissioned by High Line, New York, 2019 and has been shown since as part of Sculpture in the City, London, 2021 and at Collective, Edinburgh, 2022.

See a text on Silent Agitator on the High Line Blog.

Installed at High Line, New York

Photo: Ruth Ewan

Installed at Corner of Bishopsgate & Wormwood Street, London

Photo: Nick Turpin

Photo: Barney Laurance

Installed at Collective, Calton Hill, Edinburgh

Photo: Tim Nolan

We Could Have Been Anything That We Wanted to Be

Emma Ewan — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 02:18:09 +0000

Series of decimal clocks, 2011

COMMISSIONED as part of the second Folkestone Triennial , We Could Have Been Anything That We Wanted to Be saw the installation of ten decimal clocks around the seaside town of Folkestone, Kent. The clocks display decimal time dividing the day into ten periods rather than twenty-four. Midnight becomes ten o’clock, midday becomes five o’clock, each new hour contains one hundred minutes and each new minute contains one hundred seconds.

This decimal regulation is not a new idea. The ten clocks are a small echo of a bold historic attempt to redefine and rationalise the day. On 5 October, 1793 the recently formed Republic of France abandoned the widely used Gregorian Calendar in favor of an entirely new model – The French Republican Calendar, which became the official calendar of France for the following thirteen years, carrying the ideals of the new republic directly into the lives of every citizen. As the ancien regime was ripped up and reordered, time itself was dismantled. Just a couple of miles across the channel, France temporarily drummed to a different modern rhythm – that of the decimal second.

An artist’s book was produced detailing the project which features an essay by Astrid Johnston and was designed by The 2 Group.