Maarten Baas Reconstructing Time

Jan Jutte Clock is a collaboration between Baas and Jan Jutte, an award-winning children’s book illustrator and Baas’ former high school art teacher. The work features Jutte sketching the hands of a clock using charcoal in real time every hour, creating a stunning gradient that reflects the minutes passing. In the remaining space, Jutte fills the canvas with vibrant drawings that explore the theme of time in his signature illustrative style. As the hour unfolds, the artwork expands and evolves with bold colours, only to start anew with each passing hour, embodying the perpetual cycle of time and creativity. 

Confetti Clock symbolises time as a continuous celebration, with a film depicting a hedonistic scene filled with pleasure and entertainment. While endless streams of confetti are strewn, a stricter character persistently sweeps it up to keep time readable. He dutifully cleans the remnants of someone else’s party, seeking to organise them into something meaningful. Extra confetti falls every hour, at 11 minutes past the hour, with the number 11 symbolising the start of Carnival in certain European countries.  

Reconstruction Clock depicts human hands arranging scattered clock parts on a surface to create the image of a clock. Filmed continuously over a span of 12 hours, the performer carefully positions the hands of the clock to indicate the exact time, reflecting a delicate dance of creating order from chaos. Through Baas’s blend of humour and philosophy, the film suggests that time is constructed from memories and experiences and reshaped anew in the present, while also inviting viewers to marvel at the inner workings of a clock, with its intricate gears and components.  

Both these imaginative new works exemplify Baas' rebellious, intellectual and theatrical style. Mixing a childlike, playful sensibility with a distinctive approach to design and installation, Baas invites viewers to experience the movement of time as a living artwork, reinterpreting how one perceives and reconstructs the moments that pass.