Visitations (of Clay and Light) 1999

Visitations (of clay and light) 1999

”The Angels of the Hours (of clay and light)” was an installation 

made for the NorwegianSculpture biennale at 

Stenersensmuseum, Oslo in 1999. The biennale was, 

through invitation, curated by Lars Nitve from 

The Tate Modern in London.

The work is based on a table, set out by Frances Barret in 

”The Magus” (1871) concerning the ”Angels of the Hours 

and of the days of the week”. 

The table lists which Angel is the keeper of each 

particular hour of the day and night.

The installation consists of a circular ”screen”, 140cms in 

diameter in transparent plexiglass,wood and aluminium. 

A pipe from the screen goes down to the floor 

and joins a 450cm long wooden construction which is a 

kind of primitive projection stand running 
on wooden rails. 

A new angel appears on the screen each hour, on the hour 

during the opening times of the museum, appearing in the 

correct sequence according to the tables set out 

by Francis Barret.

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The models for the angels have been recorded on video. 

They have been asked to pose looking straight into the 

camera for a period of one hour. Every 5 minutes 

they stretch forward and peer out of the projection 

screen, as if to see out into the gallery space. 

As they do this, a voice can be heard in the room 

whispering ”can you see me?”. This is repeated 3

times. Every 30 minutes the voice of a young boy 

can be heard reciting a monologue in the room

explaining who the faces on the screen are